A Bad Omen
by MetalGeneral
Summary: When a man claiming to know about Dedede's parents and their past calls, things take a turn for the strange on Dreamland. While Dedede has learned the truth about his parents, society on Dreamland is beginning to change in a way no one is comfortable with, and it's up to everyone to figure out how to adjust to their new situation and figure out if they can reverse it. a/b/o fic
1. Chapter 1

**Warning** : This is an a/b/o fic, focusing solely on the societal implications of it. There is no sex or smut in this fic. There will be a minor OC in the first few chapters, but only for getting the plot set off.

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Dedede prided himself on being someone who was not easily fazed. After all, weird things occurred all the time in Dreamland, ranging from attacks by entities of darkness, invasions by aliens, curses by wizards, and nearly anything else one could think of. This though, this was something entirely unexpected. He had heard of such occurrences before, but never had he thought something like this would reach their part of the galaxy. Someone had arrived to disrupt the peace on Popstar, sure enough, but brought news that was quite strange for lack of better words.

It had all started just a week before. Dedede had been attending to some monetary issues with his kingdom (the Halberd needed to be fixed _again_ , god forbid), when he had been interrupted by a lone waddle dee hurrying its way into the kitchens. The king set down the sandwich he had been eating while looking over the documents Meta Knight had sent him, turning his attention to the distressed waddle dee.

"Your highness, there's an important call for you from Planet Iceberg!" he squeaked, hopping in place.

Planet Iceberg? That was a place Dedede hadn't heard of in many, many years. Curiosity and a bit of anxiousness welled up within him. He had personally never been to the planet, but it was where his parents had come from. They had never told him their reasoning for moving to Popstar and severing all ties from Iceberg, having passed on while he was still quite young. He always figured that they meant to tell him later, when he could better understand, but circumstances did not allow for such a thing.

While he tried to play it cool for the sake of his own image, he knew he was failing. Who from Planet Iceberg had called, and why? Dedede had always made it a point of ignoring the planet's existence all together, figuring that there must have been a good reason for his parents to leave. Did this person know about Dedede?

Shaking his head, he shooed the waddle dee off and left to answer the call. He didn't know what to expect, or if answering this would be a good or bad decision. There were none of his species on Popstar, and he suspected there were likely none in their galaxy at all. From some text books he had skimmed over once, he did know that Iceberg was home for the majority of his pengu species, so leaving the planet was probably unheard of.

A minute amount of fear filled him, thinking about the possibilities of how this call might go. Would he be forced back to Iceberg? Would the planet's forces try to attack Popstar? If something were to happen, Dedede was sure they could deal with it, but still, he couldn't help but worry. His parents' origins were something he had wondered about for most of his childhood, before he had shoved all of that to the back of his mind. Now everything was suddenly crashing down on him.

Reaching the throne room, Dedede braced himself. There were likely a good handful of waddle dees in there, and he needed to keep calm for their sake. Their king was perfect and unstoppable as far as they were concerned. A mere phone call wouldn't be enough to get him down.

An antsy group of waddle dees moved aside as Dedede approached, making his way over to the receiver. He gulped discretely, hoping none of the waddle dees noticed how nervous he actually was.

"This is King Dedede. What do you want?" he accidentally snapped. His own tone of voice caused him to inwardly flinch. He hadn't intended to sound so rough.

"Ah, King Dedede," the person on the other end began, sounding unfazed. "I'm glad I was able to reach you! I've been trying to locate you for years now. I had almost lost hope of you even still being alive!" the man chuckled good-naturedly.

Dedede tried to suppress his chills, but merely succeeded in making himself angry. Who was this guy? If there was one thing Dedede hated, it was being uncertain of himself, and yet here this guy was, talking to him as though they were old friends. Needless to say, Dedede was not amused.

"Listen bud, who the heck are you? I have a lot of work I need to get done today, and you're really wasting my time here," he ground out tactlessly. There was a reason Bandana Dee was the one who usually dealt with people. Dedede wasn't exactly known for being all that pleasant when his (admittedly) short temper went off.

The person on the other end simply chuckled once more, much to Dedede's aggravation. "Well, you certainly have quite the temper on you!" Some more chuckles. "Sorry. I'm Darrin, your father's younger brother. I presume he told you about me."

"Nope."

The person—Darrin—paused momentarily at Dedede's blunt answer, and he couldn't help but smirk in satisfaction. Who cared if this guy was supposedly his uncle? Dedede's parents had put their past on Iceberg long behind them before they died, so he should want nothing to do with this guy either, right? He frowned ever so slightly, a feeling of uncertainty welling up within him once more.

"Ah, well I'm sure they had their reasons," Darrin tried to recover. "Listen, ever since Samson and Delilah left Iceberg, I'd been trying to locate you all. After I heard of the deaths of your parents, I was so distressed I could barely function. After the tragedy that befell our family, Samson and your mother were all I had left, and I felt as though I was truly alone after their deaths. I knew though, that you must've still been alive! So, I continued my search, hoping against hope that I could find you, and yet here you are! I never expected your parents to have made it so far!"

Dedede didn't know what to say. This man knew about his parents' deaths? There was a tragedy that occurred before his parents left Iceberg? Maybe this guy could tell him everything he'd always wanted to know— He shook himself of these thoughts. All of that nonsense was behind him! He didn't care anymore! Popstar was the only home he ever knew; he had firmly established himself as Dreamland's king, and had close friends that he fully considered to be his true family. Who was this guy, claiming to be his uncle who had spent Dedede's whole life looking for him? Dedede was a full-grown adult by this point. This guy had nothing to do with him; hadn't had any involvement in his life, and yet he couldn't stop that one nagging thought.

What happened that drove his parents from Iceberg? What did this guy know, and what were his intentions now?

"Lad? Are you still there?" came the voice from the receiver.

Dedede jumped, upset that he had zoned out for so long. He wasn't supposed to let this get to him! He was better than this, and needed this guy to know it.

"So what? You've been lookin' for me all these years. You found me, so now what do you want?"

"Yes, about that. I was wondering if I would be allowed to visit you? I've lived a long, fruitless life, and all I want now is to see my older brother's son, all grown up. I want to see that you've been well and grown into a fine young man. Maybe then I can finally live the rest of my life in peace."

What a sap. That's what he wanted to say, but he couldn't bring himself to just blurt it out. He didn't want to care, he really didn't, but something compelled him. This was someone who could possibly be related to him, who might know everything that had happened with his parents on Iceberg. It didn't even seem as though he wanted Dedede to come back. He just wanted to see his nephew.

No, no, no! This was stupid. He couldn't let this random guy come into his life. There was no need to know what happened to his parents on Iceberg. All he had to do was tell this guy to forget it and leave him alone. This never happened. He would forget about this guy in due time, and all of this would again be behind him.

They set up a time to meet up. With Iceberg's current state of technology and magic, Darrin would likely make it within a week. Needless to say, Dedede was horribly disappointed in himself. He had tried so hard to tell the guy to go away, but he couldn't do it. He had to know about his parents, as much as he hated himself for it. So, his supposed uncle was to arrive in about five days, and Dedede couldn't be more anxious about it.

Due to said anxiety, his temper was naturally off the charts, going off on random waddle dees for the slightest of mistakes. Bandana Dee was currently off visiting his own family at their tribe just north of Jam Jungle, so he unfortunately was not around to act as damage control for his distressed and moody king. After only a day, Dedede had banned Kirby from even approaching his castle, as there was no way he could deal with the little menace at the moment. As much as he hated to admit it, he really liked Kirby, but his high energy and cheerfulness was not what Dedede needed.

Shockingly enough, Kirby had listened to him, and after two more days he still hadn't shown up at Castle Dedede. Waddle dees skittered around their king nervously, knowing the volatile mood he was still in. Why had Dedede agreed to letting this Darrin guy visit him again? The stress, anger, and anxiety were not worth whatever uncertainties he still had about his parents. Still, there was no turning back now, as at this point the guy was already on his way (likely halfway to Popstar), and Dedede knew he would only continue to worry about the issue if he sent the guy back without learning anything.

So one more day went by, and only one remained before his fellow pengu would arrive to see him. Despite his still horrible mood, he could feel an ever-so-slight amount of giddiness within him. He'd finally get to know the answers to the questions he'd had his entire life. He'd know the deal between his parents and Iceberg. It almost felt refreshing.

"Pardon the interruption, but would you mind telling me why Kirby's been banned from the castle _this_ time?"

The slight smile Dedede had immediately dropped in annoyance. He slowly turned to face Meta Knight with a look he was sure very clearly said _seriously_?

"It's been four days. Why are you coming to me about this _now_?"

The puffball gave him a bored look, unfazed by Dedede's temper. "You know my crew and I have been trying to repair the Halberd. I've had no time to see you about the issue, though I've heard your mood's been quite volatile as of late."

"Maybe if you'd stop blowing the damn thing up, you'd actually have time to do your job!"

"I have no control over battle damage the Halberd receives. Excuse me for trying to stop the crazy super computer from destroying all organic life in the universe."

"My castle was repaired a long time ago from Haltmann's attack. Why haven't you finished the ship yet?"

"We were aiding you and the waddle dees in rebuilding the castle. By the time we were finished, the kingdom's budget was too low to repair the Halberd and keep Dreamland's economic prosperity in order. So my crew and I have been doing what we can to repair it with our own money. Now what's been bothering you so bad that you've banned Kirby from the castle yet again?"

He merely groaned. Meta Knight was annoying at best when Dedede was trying to be angry at everything, seeing as he was too calm and logical about his king's issues. He _tried_ to scare him off, but Meta Knight could be stupidly stubborn when he thought Dedede was being unreasonable. Of course, Dedede _knew_ he was being unreasonable, but he'd never admit it. He was just as stubborn as the puffball was and would often continue their "arguments" out of spite, but he just didn't have it in him that day.

"Fine, whatever," Dedede muttered, glancing around at a few waddle dees nearby. "Let's talk about it in my room."

They made it to Dedede's room, sitting side-by-side on his bed, and he told Meta Knight everything about what was going on. There was no need to hold anything back after all, considering Meta Knight's status as Dedede's close childhood friend. Meta Knight had even met both of Dedede's parents a few times before their untimely deaths. Naturally, he understood Dedede's turmoil, as there had been a good portion of their childhood where they had both done their best to figure out what the heck was up with Planet Iceberg together.

"So, this person is arriving tomorrow? How do we know we can tru—" Meta Knight cut himself off, looking away.

Dedede merely sighed. Meta Knight had always been reluctant to talk about his obvious trust issues, since Dedede had made it clear in the past that the whole thing bothered him. Despite his relatively horrid mood, he let it slide. Now wasn't the time.

"I don't know if we can trust him or not, honestly," Dedede admitted. "Hell, he might not even be related to me at all! It's just, I really want to know! There's a chance that he's telling the truth, and I just decided to take it. We can handle the guy if he's some evil prick, can't we? I mean, we've dealt with worse."

"True," Meta Knight hummed. He pulled his cape tighter around himself and cuddled into Dedede's side.

Dedede instinctively put his hand down to pet him, though it was always a bit difficult when the puffball was still in full armor.

"We should be careful though. There's no need to get taken off-guard if this guy does have ill intentions," Meta Knight reminded, leaning further into Dedede's touch.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Do you and the others want to be there tomorrow when this guy gets here?"

"It would be best. I know you can handle yourself, but I'm sure having someone around to guard you will help deter any possible attacks."

They were quiet for some time, Dedede absently petting Meta Knight who was very obviously falling asleep against his side. The residents of Dreamland had a bad habit of napping whenever possible, and Meta Knight was not exempt from this. Dedede would have joined him in taking a nap—his bed was certainly feeling comfy enough—but he couldn't calm himself enough. Sure, his temper had lessened—talking with someone about his issues had done wonders to fix that, but still his mind would not stop racing with worry. How would tomorrow go?

Sighing, he laid on his back, pulling Meta Knight down with him. The slumbering puffball attempted to cuddle further into his side, though his armor dug uncomfortably into Dedede. Feeling his annoyance begin to return, he momentarily woke Meta Knight back up long enough to get the armor off of him, the puffball promptly passing back out afterwards.

Dedede gave a valiant effort at falling asleep, but his thoughts just wouldn't stop. A few hours passed before Meta Knight eventually woke back up, the two deciding to have dinner before making preparations for the next day. The puffball eventually left to inform the other knights about the day's tasks, and Dedede was left to his own devices for the night. In an attempt to avoid his temper returning, he locked himself within his room, doing his best to slow his racing thoughts and get some actual sleep for the night. His attempts were somewhat successful, though there was a good chance he wasn't going to wake up the next day well rested.

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 **A/N** : I made a lot of notes and apologies for this fic over on ao3 already, so I'll keep it brief here. I'll just point out some of this chapter's references instead! Dedede's parents are named after a play I used to watch all the time when I was younger ("Samson and Delilah"), and his species name is a play on Pingu of all things. If I'm going to write an a/b/o drama, I mine as well let myself get goofy with it!


	2. Chapter 2

The atmosphere was awkward. Dedede didn't quite know what to say. He and Meta Knight sat in the dining room together, their guest sitting across from them. Axe Knight and Mace Knight were situated at the room's entrance, while Javelin Knight and Trident Knight stood resolutely behind Dedede and Darrin respectively. Meta Knight had initially insisted on standing guard along with his men, but was countered by both Dedede and the other pengu demanding that he join them for lunch.

As it stood, Dedede didn't know how to feel about Darrin at the moment. As the pengu's ship had landed outside Castle Dedede, he had only felt nervous anticipation. The newcomer left his ship jovially, eagerly reaching out to shake Dedede's hand. Dedede had reluctantly obliged, being forced to listen on about how excited Darrin was to finally meet him, and how much he looked like his mother and grown so big and on and on. Dedede enjoyed being praised, sure, but it was a little much, especially since most of the praise involved his parents (always a touchy subject with the king).

After much rambling on Darrin's part, the smaller pengu finally appeared to notice the puffball standing off to the side behind Dedede. Questions had been asked, Meta Knight had dutifully answered in just the way Dedede expected him to (not even mentioning his relationship with Dedede, of course), and the newcomer kept throwing discrete glances the puffball's way as the introduction between the two pengu continued. At some point, he had somehow figured out that Dedede and Meta Knight were a bit closer than just a king and his knight, hence his insistence on Meta Knight joining the two for lunch, and Dedede didn't know how to feel about it. Everything about this guy was off.

After some time, Dedede decided to suck it up and just get down to business.

"Okay, enough small talk. I need some answers," Dedede demanded.

Darrin gave him a blank smile, as though he hadn't expected such a demand.

"Go ahead," he continued smiling, "what do you want to know?"

"What happened to my parents? What's up with Iceberg? Why did they just up and leave?" Dedede spouted off, the questions coming rapidly.

"Oh," Darrin looked taken aback. "You mean you don't know?"

"No, they died before they were able to tell me."

"I see," he appeared thoughtful.

Meta Knight shifted beside Dedede, causing him to glance down at the puffball. His knight was throwing a skeptical look at the other pengu, though Dedede tried to ease the growing discontent he himself was feeling.

"It was our society, you see. After all, two alphas being together is taboo over on Iceberg, and that was really only the last straw for the governor of our tribe. Our family was causing too many social taboos. My older sister, an omega, fell in love with another omega and eloped with her. Delilah's father and several cousins were all betas and the heads of their households, despite there being alphas around.

"When your mother and father got together, our governor threatened to have the whole family killed. No one heeded their warnings, and they sent guards over to take everyone out. Delilah was pregnant at the time and desperate to have her child survive, so I lent her and my brother my ship. Our technology and magic weren't as advanced as they are now, so I wasn't sure how far they would make it. I worried about their safety for years. To hear that they had died after so long, I could only pray that their child had survived." He grinned. "Thank god! Here you are before me now!"

Dedede and Meta Knight stared blankly at the pengu before them. Darrin's grin faltered at their uncomprehending looks.

" _What_?" was all Dedede blurted out. "Iceberg does all of that pack nonsense?"

Meta Knight clearly remained lost. He looked helplessly up at Dedede for some sort of clarification, but Darrin answered Dedede's questions before anything could be said to help the puffball out.

"You didn't know about that either?" he appeared equally confused. "Pack dynamics are probably the most important part of Iceberg's culture. It's what drove your parents away and killed most of our family after all."

Dedede was stunned. He had heard of pack dynamics before and knew they were prominent in other galaxies, but on _his_ species' planet? Why had he never presented? Was it simply Popstar's influence that prevented him from presenting as anything? _This_ was the reason his parents had left Iceberg?

Meta Knight very clearly wanted to ask about what was going on, but was too respectful to say anything to interrupt the two pengu's discussion. Dedede was too busy taking everything in to properly address his confusion.

It didn't take long for anger to begin settling in. After all this time, his parents had left because of stupid pack dynamics? How could that possibly be so important on his planet that most of his family had been killed over it? Speaking of which…

"How come you weren't killed along with everyone else?" Dedede questioned skeptically.

Darrin sighed, looking mildly upset for the first time since arriving. "I'm just an omega, and at the time I was dating an alpha like a proper member of our tribe. The guards took pity on me for this, especially since I'm a male omega. Those are quite difficult to come by, and I'm sure they didn't want to kill off one of the few." He glanced off to the side. "My partner left me shortly after everything that occurred. No one wanted anything to do with me, afraid that they'd end up killed like the rest of the family. I've lived on my own since then. It's difficult being an omega on your own, but I get by."

This was too much. Dedede couldn't wrap his head around it. Lunch ended shortly after that, Dedede claiming that he needed a nap. Darrin was shown to a guest room by Axe Knight and Mace Knight, both with the orders to keep an eye on the pengu. Dedede gestured at Meta Knight for him to follow him to his room, to which the puffball obliged.

In no time, they found themselves sitting beside each other on Dedede's bed once again, Dedede still taking everything in.

"It was all over something like _that_?" he mumbled to himself.

Meta Knight remained quiet, shuffling awkwardly. Dedede finally took proper notice of him and decided he couldn't keep leaving him in the dark like this.

"So, you don't know anything about pack dynamics?" he asked.

Meta Knight simply shook his head. It was expected, seeing as nothing like pack dynamics was prominent in their part of the galaxy, and Dedede only knew because his mother had taught him about it before her death. Well, this at least explained _why_ she had bothered to teach him.

"Well, it's kinda like, uh, I don't know how to explain it." He scratched his head, trying to decide where to start. "Okay, so it's like a society type thing, and there's three different kinds of people: alpha, beta, and omega. Alphas are like the leaders of the society, and they tend to be a lot stronger and more competitive than betas or omegas. Betas are like normal people, I guess. What you're used to, you know? And then omegas are like the really submissive people. They're the ones who get stuck with having babies and stuff. They're usually smaller and weaker than alphas and betas, and I think other people are supposed to be really protective of them? Alphas are supposed to be protective of everyone in their pack, too.

"Oh yeah! So, these people form packs. Like, I guess you group together with a bunch of people who are either your family or are like family, and that's your pack. It's usually run by someone who's the head. This is always an alpha if there's one in the pack, otherwise it's the most dominant beta. But yeah, I'm not really sure what else to say. My mom never taught me much else besides the basics."

"I…see," Meta Knight uttered, obviously still trying to comprehend this idea. Dedede knew he didn't necessarily explain as much as Meta Knight would have liked. "And these dynamics are quite strict, I'm assuming? Your family was killed over not following the 'rules' supposedly. How is that considered moral?"

"I don't know. It's all stupid if you ask me," Dedede ground out. "I mean, here I thought it was always some horrible galaxy threatening issue, but in the end, it was over-the-top pack dynamics? I know that everything that happened was still tragic, but I guess I'm just disappointed. It's so stupid!"

"Senseless is a better word, I feel. I might not know anything about pack dynamics, but killing entire families over such simple transgressions? How can that be allowed?"

Dedede shook his head. "I don't know. I just don't know how to feel about this. All I keep coming up with is disappointment. I'm confused."

The puffball snuggled into Dedede's side once more, likely in an attempt at comforting him. Meta Knight was not known for his ability to deal with other people's emotional issues, but Dedede always appreciated the effort. Despite the lame attempts, he always felt just the slightest bit better knowing that someone was at least there for him.

Cuddles led to thoughtful silence, which quickly led to typical Dreamland drowsiness. Meta Knight's armor came off for his king's comfort of course, and the two snuggled into bed together. This time, Dedede found that he could bring himself to fall into a light nap, and thus both he and Meta Knight slept the next couple hours away.

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 **A/N** : In which Dedede is disappointed and fails at explaining things.


	3. Chapter 3

Dedede was normally a heavy sleeper, often to the point where no one even bothered trying to wake him up; it just didn't happen. Lately though, his sleep had been restless, and the slightest of things had been enough to wake him up. For instance, the sound of his bedroom door opening was enough to rouse him awake.

Blearily rubbing at his eyes, Dedede looked over at his unwelcome guest, who just so happened to be Darrin. Axe Knight and Mace Knight were right behind him, protesting his entrance into the room. Not quite coherent enough to deal with the issue, Dedede simply stared at the other pengu, attempting to determine exactly what he wanted. He thought that perhaps he would burst into the room with some sort of proclamation, but that wasn't the case. The pengu simply stood in the doorway and stared at Dedede in his bed. Why the heck was he looking at him like that?

Some small shuffling against him was enough to snap him mostly awake, and he remembered that his top knight was in fact cuddled against his side. He was pretty certain Meta Knight had wanted to avoid any implications like this around strangers, but there was really no defending the scene Darrin had barged in on.

The puffball glanced over Dedede in confusion, trying to deduce what had awoken them both. It didn't take long for obvious panic to settle on his face, as he quickly turned to grab his mask and throw it back on. He then tried to scoot as discretely as possible away from Dedede, probably in hopes that he could keep at least some amount of dignity around their guest.

After assessing his knight's clear embarrassment of the situation, Dedede turned back to Darrin in annoyance. The pengu was still staring at them with some sort of knowing look, which only succeeded in furthering his annoyance. This was not something Dedede was comfortable with his supposed relative knowing, especially with all of the bad vibes he had already felt from the guy earlier.

"What is _wrong_ with you? Is it normal to burst into peoples' bedrooms on Iceberg, too?" Dedede demanded, frustrated.

"Ah, no. I'm so sorry," Darrin apologized, not sounding sorry at all. His gaze had fixed itself on Meta Knight at some point. Dedede instinctively sat up to block the puffball from the other pengu's view, irritation rising. "It's just that I remembered something, and was too excited to tell you about it to wait."

"Really, and the guards protesting this didn't stop you?" Dedede nearly growled, hoping the guy would take the hint and get out.

Darrin glanced back at Axe Knight and Mace Knight, appearing surprised by their presences. Dedede could very clearly see the anger in Axe Knight's eyes from behind his mask. How could this guy have possibly ignored them? Sure, Meta Knight had reminded them not to use force against him unless completely necessary, but surely they had done enough to get any normal person's attention.

"I see," was all Darrin responded with. He then turned to face Dedede once more, ignoring the two knights again. "Well, you don't much appear to be in the mood to talk with me."

" _Really_? What gave you that idea?"

"You and your mate should get ready. I'll be waiting just outside your room!"

Dedede nearly choked at the use of the word 'mate', adding it to his mental list of reasons why he didn't like this guy. His glare only intensified at his supposed uncle, who had yet to make any move to leave.

"You know," Darrin began once more. Dedede didn't even try to hold back his irritated groan. "You would make such an excellent alpha, protecting your little omega. You certainly would have fit right in with the rest of the family. Our tribe did _not_ approve of interspecies relationships at all."

"Just _get out_!" Dedede practically screamed at him.

 _Finally_ getting it, Darrin put his hands up and backed out of the room. Axe Knight followed tensely after him, and Mace Knight gave his king an awkward shrug before shutting the door behind them all.

Clenching his fists as tight as possible, Dedede tried not to let his rage loose. He really, _really_ needed Bandana Dee around for times like this. The waddle dee was to only person who knew how to properly deal with his anger and calm him down. He would at least be able to talk some sort of sense into Dedede. He could, for example, give him reasons as to why he shouldn't walk right out and punch his relative in the face.

Needing to find some way to calm down, he brought his attention back towards Meta Knight. The puffball had his cape wrapped around him, his face firmly buried in his paws. Everyone who was close to Meta Knight knew about his serious self-image issues. Having some random person barge in on him cuddling with his king with no armor or mask on would clearly be enough to thoroughly embarrass him. Along with those accusations of them both being mates, the puffball had likely come to the conclusion that there was no way Darrin would ever take him seriously.

Dedede huffed out a sigh, suddenly finding himself irritated with Meta Knight instead. Then he was annoyed with himself for being irrationally irritated with Meta Knight. Honestly, his moods were such a mess that he couldn't even keep his anger in proper focus anymore. Meta Knight had no reason to want to impress and look dignified in front of someone he'd likely never see again, but that was just how he had always been. If he wasn't so damn afraid of disappointing everyone all the time…

Shaking his head, he pulled the puffball in for a quick one-armed hug. There was no reason to keep getting upset over issues they had gone over multiple times in the past, especially when Meta Knight had done absolutely nothing wrong. His horrible mood was _Darrin's_ fault. Darrin was the one who had caused Dedede so much stress about the past, had given off too many odd vibes, had barged into Dedede's bedroom unannounced and made embarrassing accusations.

"You know," Dedede ground out, "the only reason I let this guy visit me was because I wanted to know what happened to my parents on Iceberg. Since he already told us what I wanted, I could probably just kick him out of the castle."

Meta Knight loosened up slightly to return Dedede's cuddles, though he gave a wary glance over at the doorway as he did so.

"You know that wouldn't be proper," Meta Knight returned. "Just because you aren't very fond of him doesn't mean you should simply kick him out. If everything he's told us so far is the truth, then he's a long-lost relative of yours who's been searching most of his life for you. Shouldn't you at least respect that and give him the time of day?"

"So what if he's related to me? That doesn't mean anything. He hasn't had any part in my life, and I just don't like the guy. He doesn't feel right!"

Meta Knight glanced up at him, though Dedede was unable to tell what kind of look he was receiving thanks to the puffball's mask.

"I say give him a chance. It's only the right thing to do. As long as we keep a close eye on him, there's nothing he can do that we can't handle, just as you said, right? You might have a bad impression of him, but he hasn't actually done anything… _terrible_ , yet." He tightened up again, likely in continued embarrassment. "Besides maybe bursting into places he probably shouldn't," he muttered as an afterthought.

"Whatever. I'll keep seeing what he wants, but I don't think I'm gonna start liking him anytime soon," Dedede responded.

"You've never been one for liking people right away. It always takes a good amount of time before they start growing on you. If they ever do, that is."

"Yeah, says the guy who doesn't trust anyone."

Meta Knight merely shrugged at the comment, moving from Dedede's side to reach for his armor. Dedede had nothing he needed to do before they left the room, so he simply waited as Meta Knight put his armor back on.

The two left the room together when he was finished, and sure enough, Darrin was waiting right outside for them.

"Oh good, you're both up!" he cheered, clapping his hands once together. "What I wanted was to show you something back at my ship. Would you mind following me back there?"

Dedede had no desire whatsoever to follow this guy to his ship, but he decided to oblige Meta Knight's suggestions. _Just give him a chance. Just give him a chance_ , kept running through his head as he nodded in agreement to the other pengu.

"Sure thing, I'll check out whatever you want," Dedede responded, though he knew he sounded too sarcastic to be genuine about it.

Oblivious as ever (or simply very good at ignoring people), Darrin gave a heavy grin, pleased with the answer, sarcasm or not.

The two pengi left the castle along with the three knights (Dedede vaguely wondered where Javelin Knight and Trident Knight had run off to, but didn't dwell on it), heading over to where Darrin had landed his ship not too long ago.

Darrin approached his small ship, entering and digging through something in his cockpit. Dedede figured that it was probably just some souvenir from Iceberg; something to remember Darrin by. Instead, the other pengu jumped out of his ship with a dusty old book. The Dreamland natives stared at the book in curiosity, though Darrin quickly opened it and began flipping through its pages.

"And what the heck is that thing?" Dedede questioned for everyone.

"It's a tome about the importance of pack dynamics. I thought you'd be interested, since it was such a large part of your parents' culture."

"A part of their culture that got their whole family killed," Dedede pointed out. "This galaxy doesn't even have pack dynamics, so why should I care about it?"

Darrin gave him a saddened smile, one that made it feel like he was looking down on someone he pitied. There was absolutely no reason for such a look, and Dedede could only feel frustration. Did this guy think he was better than everyone else just for having pack dynamics?

"I know, lad, and that's why I want to share such a thing with your planet. That way, you can better understand the importance of our culture and have a closer connection to your parents."

Dedede gave a confused look at that statement. "What, do you expect me to share a book with all of Popstar?"

"No, no, of course not! I can share it for you!" he beamed, placing his hand on a specific page in the book. "Everyone will be able to better understand our pack dynamics after this!"

With that, Darrin muttered some words that Dedede had never heard of before, and the book began flashing wildly. While he was able to deduce that his uncle was casting some sort of spell from the tome, there was nothing he could do to stop it in time. The spell was cast rapidly, and acted out even quicker than anyone anticipated. He saw Meta Knight attempt to leap at the pengu in order to stop him, but with a bright flash that completely blinded everyone, Dedede felt himself falling unconscious.


	4. Chapter 4

He awoke with a massive headache to the sound of someone shouting at him. Not even attempting to sit up, he put his arm over his head, trying to block everything out. What had happened? He felt like he had been hit by a truck.

"Your majesty. Your majesty! Are you alright?"

The voice broke through his thoughts, pain searing through his head due to it.

"Could you keep it down, maybe?" he mumbled. "I feel like crap."

"Sire, please. This is serious. Your uncle is nowhere in sight, and you need to attend to…to what he's done!"

His uncle? Oh yeah, Darrin!

Dedede blearily opened his eyes and removed his arm, looking around at the scene before him. Mace Knight stood before him, trembling on the spot. If Dedede was taking in his appearance properly, then the knight was likely feeling just as terrible as he felt. Glancing aside, he found Axe Knight fussing over Meta Knight, who was examining the book that Darrin once held.

Speaking of which, where had the other pengu gone? What had he done? Dedede sat up hurriedly enough that Mace Knight had to jump out of the way. There was no ship, and no sign of his uncle. All that appeared to be left was the book that Meta Knight was inspecting.

He turned his attention back to the skittish Mace Knight. "What happened? Do you know what that spell was?"

"Uh, no, I—" Mace Knight cut his own sputtering off, glancing over at Meta Knight and Axe Knight for help.

Meta Knight took notice of this and addressed Dedede's questions. "Darrin was gone when Mace Knight first woke up. He managed to wake both Axe Knight and myself, and we found your uncle's book. Everything is explained in here," he began, slightly raising the book to show it off. "Your uncle left a note for us in the first few pages. Apparently, he cast a spell on all of Popstar to awaken our latent pack dynamics. From his notes, every creature should have the potential for pack dynamics, regardless of if they are used or not in their part of the galaxy. So, all of our natural instincts should start taking over soon, and everyone will begin presenting as either an alpha, omega, or remain a beta in due time."

His uncle did _what_? Dedede was too stunned to feel proper anger over this. Everyone was going to start presenting and using pack dynamics? How could that possibly work? If Meta Knight hadn't known anything about the subject before Dedede told him, then most people on Popstar likely hadn't heard of it either. The whole planet was going to be in a state of chaos and confusion.

"How's anyone gonna know what's going on? I had to explain everything to you because you'd never heard of it before," Dedede voiced his concerns.

"Well, it's interesting," Axe Knight mumbled reluctantly. "I mean, I never knew anything about it, but I sort of understand what's going on anyways? Like, about how everyone's supposed to fit into society and whatnot. I don't really know what to expect from all of this, though."

"Yeah, I feel the same way," Mace Knight admitted. "I mean, I guess the whole thing just feels kind of natural to me? It's like, 'Oh! Everything is changing now!' and it's confusing, but at the same time not?"

Meta Knight remained quiet, though Dedede was certain he probably felt the same way. The puffball continued reading through the tome, likely hoping to gain some more information. Dedede, meanwhile, sat and thought about what the other two knights had told him.

It did kind of make sense, didn't it? Despite how horrible he felt, it was a natural feeling. His mother might have only taught him the basics of pack dynamics, yet he swore he almost knew what to expect from there on out. Yet at the same time he didn't know what to expect at all. It was just as Axe Knight and Mace Knight had said. Another thing Mace Knight had told him returned to him, and he came to a heavy realization.

"You said I need to address this issue, didn't you?" he asked, turning to Mace Knight.

"Well, I mean, I think everyone else should get an idea of what's going on? Even if we're all feeling like we are now, I know people are still all going to be really confused."

"I agree with Mace," Axe Knight piped up. "I'm sure there has to be some information on Popstar about all of this. If you could just warn Dreamland, and perhaps the royals of the other kingdoms, then citizens could start educating themselves and not be left in the dark so much."

"How am I even supposed to explain this?" Dedede muttered to himself, hand to his head. He looked around once more, as though doing so would make Darrin magically appear. "I can't tell them that my uncle from another galaxy showed up and caused all of this!"

"People are going to start presenting soon if this tome is anything to go by. Everyone won't all present at once, but we'll probably get a handful who do present within a day or so. Any explanation will suffice for now; we simply need to get the word out so that the citizens better know what to expect," Meta Knight supplied, looking up from the book. "For now, we can tell them that a wizard from another galaxy arrived and cast a spell on the whole planet before leaving. We had no idea what he was planning, and we have no idea where he's gone now, but we're doing our best to see what can be done about it."

Sighing, Dedede could feel his migraine worsen. "Is that going to be good enough, though?"

"We've dealt with plenty of curses in the past, and in the end, no one cared. Why should now be any different? As long as the people know that we're doing something to fix the issue, they should be content."

Axe Knight nodded in agreement beside Meta Knight. "Yes. We still have your uncle's tome after all, and we know that he came from Planet Iceberg. If that's not enough to get this spell reversed, then I don't know what is."

"Okay, okay, that's good," Dedede relented, feeling himself relax ever-so-slightly. "So, here's our plan of action, I guess." He took a deep breath, glancing over the three knights. "Bandana still won't be back for another week, give-or-take, so Mace Knight," the knight in question stood to attention, "I need you to talk to the waddle dees and let 'em know what's going on. Have them spread the word across Dreamland. Axe Knight, start making some calls to the other kingdoms. Let them know that it's urgent and that I need to have meetings with them as soon as possible. Let them know about the spell that's been cast if you need to. Meta Knight, keep researching for a way to reverse this; you're the best with magic out of all of us. I'll go get an announcement set up and make sure it goes national. Everyone got that?"

"Yes, your majesty!" chimed both Axe Knight and Mace Knight. Meta Knight merely nodded.

"Good! Let's go!"

Axe Knight and Mace Knight both ran for Castle Dedede to accomplish their respective jobs. Dedede instead approached Meta Knight and sat beside him, looking over the page of the book he was reading. All of his leader-like bravado deflated from him in an instant, putting a hand back to his aching head. It was getting late out and there wasn't much time to be wasting if they wanted to get everything accomplished right away, but this was too much.

"What the hell are we supposed to do about fixing this?" he groaned. "Where the hell did my prick of an uncle go anyways? Running away back to Iceberg?"

"Perhaps," Meta Knight mumbled quietly. Dedede gave him an odd look, as he had been even quieter than usual since they had awoken from that spell. The puffball then let loose a sigh and put the book down. "I just don't understand his intentions. I could understand if this were a misguided attempt at sharing his culture like he claimed, but wouldn't he have stayed if that were the case? Instead both he and his ship have disappeared. That gives the impression that he knew none of us would agree with this, and that he had some ill intentions by going through with it anyways. Either way, we need to find a way to get in contact with either him or his tribe on Iceberg. We need some answers."

"I told you he was no good," Dedede ground out. "This is all so stupid! I should have just hung up on him and never let him anywhere near our galaxy." He glanced off to the side, disappointment seeping through him.

Meta Knight scooted closer to him in an attempt at comfort. "It was important to you. You've wanted to know more about your parents and their home planet your whole life. Your uncle presented answers. No one will blame you for trusting a relative like that."

"Yeah, maybe." Dedede grit his teeth, fists clenching one again. "I still can't believe any of this is happening, though. I should have trusted my gut feeling when I started getting such bad vibes from him. I hope for his sake he wasn't lying about everything he told me about my family, because I'll personally kill him myself."

Meta Knight gave no outward reaction to this, instead remaining silent. The two sat there for a few moments before Dedede figured he couldn't waste any more time sulking over the problem. Standing from his position, he gave a large stretch before glancing back down at Meta Knight.

"You gonna keep reading that here? You might be better off with the rest of us in the castle," he suggested.

"I'll be fine," Meta Knight declined. "Give me a call if you need me over there. I might try to do some extra research elsewhere in Dreamland."

Dedede wasn't happy with the answer, but he wasn't going to force Meta Knight to come with him. "Alright. I'll let you know if anything comes up. It's gettin' late though, so I think I'll need to send out a different announcement nationally tomorrow so everyone else can see."

"Right. I'll see you tomorrow, most likely."


	5. Chapter 5

The word had been sent out. Dedede had broadcasted an announcement across all of Dreamland, and his waddle dees were all out and about spreading the word personally. Axe Knight had gotten in contact with all of Popstar's kingdoms. Some had agreed to make meetings, though most of them had a good idea of what was going on and agreed to inform their kingdoms' citizens right away. Word was getting out, and so far everything had gone smoothly.

Already waddle dees and various citizens were bringing in reports of what was going on. Some people had already begun to present as either alpha or omega, and everyone was quickly finding out what to expect when such a thing happened. The alphas were going into what some of the more informed described as a rut. The omegas were going into a similar phase called a heat. As they presented, the alphas began to act out much more aggressively, while the omegas similarly acted out in a more submissive, needy manner.

Well, Dedede was finally beginning to learn more about the intricacies of pack dynamics at least, not that he was very happy with the situation.

To the shock of absolutely no one, a single day passed by and Dedede was already presenting as an alpha. He had violently lashed out at a waddle dee when it approached him, and he suddenly found himself being assaulted by all sorts of different smells. It didn't take him long to figure out that it was other people he was smelling. Some had better scents than others, and some had scents that drove him up a wall with seemingly irrational rage.

All of the sudden changes in character and physiology were enough to tip him off that something was wrong, and he eventually proceeded to lock himself up in his room out of fear. Sometimes one waddle dee would approach another or do something seemingly aggressive, and all he would see was red. Masher and his gang had succeeded in saving a waddle doo from an undeserved beating, though the trio didn't come out unscathed. Masher's armor had been smashed by Dedede's hammer, and Butch and Blade had retreated to a safer distance at the sight of their king losing it like that.

Now he sat on his bed, blanket wrapped tightly around himself. This was more terrifying than anything. He couldn't keep his emotions under control, and his temper had never been so short and violent before. None of this was what he wanted, and the longer he sat there lamenting about it, the more his hate for Darrin grew. How _dare_ he mess with everyone like this? Bringing such fear and uncertainty along with him before outright disappearing? He'd kill him. If he ever saw him again, omega or not, he'd…

His thoughts stalled at the mention of an omega. The desire to mark and claim overcame him, and the very idea of killing an omega made him feel sick. This was the worst. There was nothing to help him out here; nothing to tell him what to expect. Very few people on Popstar actually knew how any of this worked, even if the changes _did_ appear to come naturally to them. If Darrin was going to share Iceberg's culture, then why in god's name didn't he bother leaving better explanations? Or perhaps stick around to educate people on what they were going to be dealing with? What an idiot. A stupid, useless omega.

That very thought made him feel sick once more. Sure, he always had an ego and liked to claim how much more perfect and better he was than anyone else, but he'd never outright call someone useless. Was this going to be his new mindset? He hoped not. There was no way he was going to allow something like that. Everyone was going to be treated fairly, and he'd make sure to assert this if it appeared that others were going to fall into such a mindset. They could fight it. Dedede wanted nothing to do with it, and surely no one else would either. People in Dreamland were too soft for that kind of thinking.

Everything would be fine. Everything would be fine. Everything would be fine.

Two days passed before word reached Meta Knight that Dedede's rut had finished, and the king had finally left his room. Interesting, considering that any omegas that had presented were still in their heats. Alpha ruts were clearly much shorter than omega heats. He would need to ask around about other alphas to see if two days was consistent for this.

After jotting a few quick notes down in Darrin's tome, he set the book aside and stood up to stretch his wings. Though he had read through the book a couple times already, there wasn't exactly anything useful in it. There was the spell to bring out the planet's latent pack dynamics, but nothing to reverse it with. If he was being honest with himself, the book gave the impression that it _couldn't_ be reversed, not that this was a good discovery. As with most things that no one wanted to hear, Meta Knight chose to keep this bit of information to himself until a later time.

Along with this, the book wasn't even all that helpful on the physical effects of pack dynamics. Sure, it talked about the social structure and general norms, but it only gave a passing mention to heats and ruts. As more information came in from Dreamland's citizens, he continued to jot down everything he had learned, but it would obviously take a while to truly figure everything out. For instance, how long did the average heat and rut last? Was this something that occurred frequently? The tome had mentioned that heats and ruts were for reproduction in packs, so it clearly was not a onetime thing. Of course, the book neglected to mention anything else.

There was some debate in his mind of whether or not he wanted to have some of his men help him out with his research, but he didn't necessarily want to bother them with such a task. As time went on, certain things would become more apparent; he just needed to be patient.

Speaking of which, he should probably go visit his king. Admittedly, he was nervous about seeing him after everything he had heard went down on the first day of his rut, but the rut had passed. Dedede had only been acting so aggressive due to it. His attitude and temper wouldn't carry over afterwards, would they? Or was that just how alphas were? The thought of Dedede acting so differently because of all of this made him uncomfortable. In fact, the entire idea of pack dynamics made him uncomfortable. Based off what little knowledge he had gained over the past few days, it appeared that they were about to establish a very power based society. Alphas as the natural leaders, stronger and aggressive than all the others. Omegas as the submissive ones, who seemed to be around only to breed and be protected. Then betas, who were stuck in the middle.

From what he had heard from both Darrin and Dedede, alphas were expected to be the ones in charge; the ones that everyone looked up to. They naturally held everyone's respect then, right? Everyone took them seriously and listened to them. Did betas and omegas hold that same respect? Darrin had mentioned something about more dominant betas, but what exactly did that mean? Dominant betas could apparently still be leaders and heads of their packs in the absence of an alpha, so betas were able to hold leadership positions in certain circumstances. Betas could gain respect. Alphas would always come first though, and where did that leave the omegas? It didn't seem as though anyone would feasibly take them seriously. The ones who bred and needed to be protected. No one could look up to or respect that. Omegas probably couldn't even be in any position of power ever.

His wings were tense, something that usually only happened when he was nervous. He let a shaky breath out before forcing himself to relax. It was always about dignity and respect with him. All his life he had been so terrified of not being taken seriously; of not being looked up to. Yet here was a situation where supposedly only specific people could hold that respect, and no amount of hard work would change that. It was natural. Before Meta Knight had escaped to Dreamland, his father had clearly drilled it into his head that he was different from other members of his species. That he was strange. That physical weakness that he held was nothing that could ever be changed, and was something he constantly fought to deal with. What if this was something similar?

Ideally, he would present as an alpha, just like Dedede did. The changes involved with that scared him though, didn't they? Alphas appeared aggressive and violent, and that wasn't something he wanted. Instilling fear wasn't how you gained respect. Still, alphas had the leadership roles. He kept going back and forth between wanting to be an alpha, and being too afraid to be an alpha. He didn't want to change, yet he wanted people to take him seriously. After all, he was Dedede's top knight and captain of the Halberd. Logically, he _should_ present as an alpha. There was always that nagging _but_ , though. _But what if I change drastically? I would lose the respect of my crew._ It was such a conflicting issue. Alphas got the respect, but he knew he'd lose his crew's respect if he became so violent and aggressive. _But that only happens in a rut, right?_

He needed to get out. There was no need to let himself worry about this so much.

That was how he found himself exiting the Halberd, just as two waddle dees were strolling up to it. It didn't take long for him to notice the iconic bandana and sailor hat on them. Taking to the air, he flew over to greet the two.

"Bandana, Sailor," he greeted, landing before them.

Sailor of course jumped to hug him in greeting, shouting a quick "Hello, Meta!" before backing off. Bandana gave a sheepish look, putting a paw behind his head.

"You're back early. It's because of recent developments, I'm assuming," Meta Knight continued.

"Yep, you guessed right," Bandana confirmed. "Word reached our village pretty quick. We started our way home yesterday after making sure everyone in the village was okay. What exactly happened?"

He debated whether or not to tell them everything right then and there, but decided against it. Dedede should probably be around to talk about it with them. It was all about his family and privacy anyways, and Meta Knight didn't want to intrude on that. "We should probably discuss this with Dedede. This mostly pertains to him," was all he said, simply.

Bandana Dee showed a small amount of concern, while Sailor looked mostly confused, but they agreed to head to Castle Dedede with him.

As the three approached the castle, Meta Knight felt a nagging bit of concern. He shouldn't be worrying, though. Dedede wouldn't be completely different. He'd be the same as he always was, just labelled as an alpha. Oh wait, that's right.

"Have you both heard that Dedede has already presented?"

"Really?" Sailor asked, looking surprised. "Is he an alpha?"

At Meta Knight's nod of confirmation, Bandana went on, "Well, that's to be expected. When's the rest of the kingdom going to find out?"

"I believe most people already know. He made quite the impression on the first day of his rut. I've been told that the rut has already ended though, and that we're probably safe to visit him."

Meta Knight made no mention of his own personal fears. Bandana and Sailor appeared to be taking everything well enough, remaining bright and optimistic despite the drastic changes occurring across the entire planet. He wished he could remain so chipper. If only he'd stop letting his own insecurities get the best of him so often.

"So, how exactly does all of this work?"

The question from Sailor Dee brought him out of his thoughts. He glanced over at his close friend, wondering just how much he and his brother knew about pack dynamics. They clearly knew about presenting, as well as alphas, betas, and omegas, but what else?

"What do you know about already?" he questioned.

"Well, we know about the alpha, beta, and omega stuff. Uh, for the most part," Sailor looked off uncertainly.

"Yeah," Bandana chimed in, "so, is everyone just a beta until proven otherwise? Can anyone be an alpha or omega, or is it already determined? How do we know for sure if we're going to stay a beta?"

Those were certainly good questions, most of which he didn't have the answers to. "I guess I don't have the answers for you. I've been trying to figure out as much as possible, but it's been difficult. There's hardly any information I've been able to find about all of this, and the best I've gotten has come from people who have only just presented." He sighed, staring off towards the castle they were approaching. "If anything, all we can do is wait and see what happens. We'll find more information out over time."

Bandana held back a disappointed groan. "It's so confusing, though! I mean, why is all of this happening? How is a whole planet supposed to cope with a change like this?"

Meta Knight shook his head. "I don't know. I'm sure you'll understand a bit better once we talk to Dedede, but you're right about this being confusing."

Neither of the two brothers looked satisfied with this, though they clearly understood that there wasn't much more Meta Knight could give them. After all, he barely understood anything going on, either. It was all a waiting game from there on out. Nothing else could feasibly be done.


	6. Chapter 6

The three reached the castle in no time, heading straight for the throne room. As expected, their king appeared to be nursing a headache while sitting on his throne. A small group of waddle dees were discussing something with him, though they all backed off once they noticed Meta Knight and the two brothers walk in. Dedede glanced up in annoyance at first, though his look quickly shifted to something much more excited.

He jumped up from his slouch to leap at the three, scooping up both Meta Knight and Bandana Dee to crush them in a bear hug. Before they knew it, the two found the king cuddling and rubbing his cheeks against them vigorously; almost possessively. Sure, Meta Knight wasn't afraid to cuddle with his king in private, but Dedede was usually good about not doing anything like that in public. They also had never cuddled…quite like this. He was conflicted, because such displays of affection in public made him horribly uncomfortable, yet something like this felt almost natural.

"Uh, yes, my king. I missed you, too. I'm glad to see you!" Bandana supplied, awkwardly patting Dedede as he did so.

Eventually Dedede stopped whatever he was doing, lightly sniffing the two before looking satisfied. As he finally set the two down, Meta Knight almost immediately jumped back towards Sailor Dee, mostly in hopes to sustain whatever dignity he had left. He peeked over at the group of waddle dees still around, embarrassment already settling in over what they had witnessed.

"I didn't expect you to miss me so much!" Bandana joked at his king, giving him a sheepish look.

It was then that Dedede actually looked embarrassed over whatever had occurred. He put a hand behind his head, staring resolutely off to the side.

"Yeah, uh, I'm sorry about that. It was an instinct thing," he muttered.

"Instinct? Like an alpha instinct?" Bandana further inquired.

"Maybe? I don't really know. I just saw you guys and I really needed to scent you! You know, so people know you're a part of my pack."

At that, Bandana looked completely lost. "Uh, what?"

Dedede appeared confused himself, uncertain of how to better explain. "Like, your smell and stuff. I'm an alpha now, and I can smell _everyone_. It's weird, because some people have these smells where you just _know_ they belong to someone else's pack, 'cause they have their pack leader's smell on 'em. And then you guys walked in, and all I smelled were your own scents and other waddle dees' scents, and I just needed to scent you. Or, I mean, make you smell like me. You know, my pack and stuff." His gaze was still resolutely off to the side, looking increasingly more uncomfortable by the minute.

"Okay, okay," Bandana tried to reason, "that makes sense, I guess. Can only alphas smell all of this?" He paused, unsure of himself. "How are betas and omegas supposed to know who's in a pack and stuff?"

In response, Dedede merely shrugged. "I don't know. I don't actually know what I'm doing, or what's going on. How am I supposed to know anything about this?"

"Ah, I guess," Bandana mumbled, still painfully lost. He tried to give his best attempt at a cheeky expression. "One thing I _do_ know though, is that people in packs are like family to each other. So, if you're, uh, scenting me for your pack, then you clearly like me more than you let on."

"Oh, come on, Bandana! You've known for a long time that I treat you like a brother!" Dedede replied, mild irritation in his voice.

"And then of course we have your _boyfriend_ ," Bandana teased, turning to eye up the puffball in question.

"Bandana, please," Meta Knight muttered, resisting the urge to run and hide. Everything that Dedede had told them wasn't sitting well with him at all. None of this felt right, and he could feel himself becoming increasingly upset by the moment.

As Bandana and Dedede kept up their playful banter, Meta Knight took notice of Sailor Dee, who had been painfully quiet since the whole scenting incident. Unsure of what exactly was wrong or how to fix it, Meta Knight did the only he could think of…which was to hug him?

He found himself hugging Sailor Dee, who at first was surprised, but then returned it eagerly. Meta Knight was honestly surprised too, and wasn't quite sure where that urge came from. Still hugging the waddle dee, he glanced discretely back over at the group of waddle dees. Thankfully, they appeared more interested in what Dedede and Bandana Dee were talking about. Still, was this a pack thing? Were betas actually affected by all of this nonsense, too? His confusion only furthered, and he made a mental note to jot down everything that had occurred from this visit in Darrin's tome.

More than a little embarrassed and completely out of his comfort zone, Meta Knight pulled away from Sailor Dee (who had, in fact, been absently rubbing his own cheeks against the puffball), and wrapped his cape tightly around himself. This was all too much for him. His whole body was tense with nervousness.

It didn't take long for the playful banter between king and advisor to end, as Bandana put on a mildly serious face.

"So, the reason Sailor and I came home early was kinda because of this, you know." He gave his king an exasperated look. "I mean, what happened? All of this is just so random!"

That uncomfortable look reached Dedede's face once more, and Meta Knight swore he saw shame there as well. Obviously, he would still be feeling guilt and disappointment over everything that had happened with Darrin, but he couldn't keep blaming himself for it. If this kept up, Meta Knight figured he'd need to talk to him about it, which honestly wasn't something he was the best at. He'd try, at least. He knew Dedede appreciated the effort, as ineffective as it often was. First, of course, Meta Knight would need to get his own emotions under control.

"Right, about that." This time Dedede was the one to glance at the group of waddle dees. "I guess we should talk in private. I'm not exactly comfortable talking about it here," he added, voice quiet.

Bandana nodded in agreement, following dutifully behind his king as he moved to leave the throne room. As Dedede passed by Meta Knight and Sailor Dee, he lightly sniffed the air around them, giving Meta Knight an odd look before moving on. Considering all of that nonsense about everyone having specific smells now, he bet anything that he smelled like Sailor Dee.

Following close behind Dedede and the waddle dee brothers, Meta Knight considered the whole idea of packs. Could someone have multiple packs? Dedede clearly wasn't going to include Sailor Dee in his pack, but the thought of being in a pack with Sailor and the knights from the Halberd crew sounded just as natural as being in a pack with Dedede, Kirby, and Bandana Dee. He didn't want to have to choose between the two groups, and working with his crew as closely as he did was bound to have some repercussions with the whole pack dynamics thing. He knew that Kirby had a large group of friends outside of himself, Dedede, and Bandana Dee, and he would likely end up forming a pack with that group, too. So, multiple packs had to be a thing, right? He'd have to double check Darrin's tome and see if perhaps Dedede knew anything about it. Speaking of which, he'd also need to talk to him about having presented as an alpha. He needed to know how that would affect the pengu and his relationship with him.

Lost in his own musings, Meta Knight found that they had reached Dedede's room in no time. The group entered, everyone taking a seat on the king's large bed. Dedede sat against the bed's headboard, Bandana beside him. Meta Knight sat across from the two with Sailor Dee quickly snuggling into his side. Dedede gave an annoyed look at this, but made no move to protest against it. The look itself worried Meta Knight, as he wasn't exactly sure what was going through Dedede's head. He didn't want his king to have any ill will towards Sailor just because he happened to be such close friends with him.

Tearing his eyes off of Sailor, Dedede began telling them everything, starting with Darrin's call and introducing himself as Dedede's uncle. He went over how the pengu from Iceberg had arrived and told Dedede all about Iceberg's culture and its pack dynamics. Meta Knight noticed that the king didn't go into too much detail on what had happened to his family on Iceberg, though it was understandable that he'd be reluctant to talk about that with anyone. After skipping over a few different things besides that (such as Darrin barging in on both Dedede and Meta Knight cuddling together), he described when his uncle pulled out his time and cast the spell that caused everything.

The two waddle dees took everything in, understanding filling Bandana's face as Dedede finished up.

"Well, that's certainly something," he laughed nervously. "Why did your uncle do this, though?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Dedede replied, disgruntled. "All he said was that he wanted to share his culture with all of Popstar! For all we know, he was probably lying about everything! He might not even be my uncle," he grumbled, annoyance growing as he went on.

"Yes," Meta Knight continued for him, "Axe and Trident Knight have both been working with Javelin to see if they can find Darrin's ship. If it takes too long though, we're going to contact Iceberg directly and see if we can figure out how to reach him from there. Or even see if anyone on the planet knows what to do about our issue."

"I see," Bandana said in thought. "So then no one really knows what's going on, huh?"

"Pretty much," Dedede muttered.

"It's as I said before. All we can do is wait. No one knows much about pack dynamics, so we'll just have to wait and see what happens. Hopefully my crew can eventually get in proper contact with Darrin and question him about everything," Meta Knight explained.

Sailor Dee didn't add anything to the conversation; he was always one for keeping quiet, though he did nod in agreement at Meta Knight's explanation. Bandana merely sighed, unsatisfied with all that he had heard. Meta Knight couldn't blame him, considering how sudden all of this was, and how little information they had. The waddle dee had seemed eager to learn what was going on too, since he and his brother had come back from their village so early. Thinking about that, Meta Knight felt a little guilty, as he didn't want the two to have to lose time with their family over something like this.

The waddle dees stayed for a bit longer, Bandana Dee chatting away and asking a few more general questions about pack dynamics with Dedede. Sailor was lightly nodding off against Meta Knight, who admittedly was beginning to grow tired as well. Just as he felt himself beginning to nod of (Sailor Dee was long out by then), Bandana jumped from his spot on the bed, jostling both his brother and Meta Knight back awake.

"Welp!" he spouted out cheerfully. "If I'm going to be back so early, I mine as well get my stuff all situated and get back to work!"

Sailor Dee stared at him groggily, uncomprehending. "You're going back to work already? We still have three days of vacation left, though."

"What can I say? I'm just a workaholic!" With that, Bandana jumped from the bed and stared up at the other three. "Is that okay, my king?"

"Yeah, yeah, that's fine. I'm putting those three days back in your vacation time, though. You better take them later!"

Bandana giggled at his 'threat'. "That's fine. Is there anything specific you'd like me to work on right away?"

"Naw," Dedede brushed him off. "Just go talk to some of the other waddle dees and see what they've been up to. I'll call you over if I need you for anything."

"Sure thing, my king!" he mock saluted, skipping out of the bedroom door as he went. Just before he properly left, he turned back to address everyone. "I'll talk to you later, Sailor!"

"Okay," Sailor mumbled back. "I'll probably be on the Halberd, like always."

With that, Bandana was gone, off to do some work in the castle.

"He never stops," Sailor mentioned absently, "even at home, he was always doing chores around the village."

"Will you be taking your last three vacation days, or should I have Dedede put them back for you, too?" Meta Knight addressed him.

Sailor considered it momentarily before answering. "I think I'll put them back, too. I'd feel bad hanging around the Halberd and doing nothing while you guys are all working on it."

Meta Knight nodded, accepting this, and made a mental note to remind Dedede about returning Bandana's and Sailor Dee's vacation days back to them.

Sailor Dee sat up, glancing at the still open doorway. "Well, I guess I should be heading back, too. Do you want to come with me, Meta?"

"I'm sorry, but there's actually something I need to discuss with Dedede first. I'll head back once we're done."

Dedede gave him a confused look at that, though Sailor accepted it, jumping off the bed and following his brother's lead out of the bedroom.

His first intention had been to jump off of the bed and shut the bedroom door so that no one could listen in on them, but he found himself wrapped in a bear hug before he could actually do anything.

"Dedede, really? We're doing this again?" he muttered, trapped in his king's arms.

"You gotta smell like me!" Dedede claimed, voice slightly whiny. "Sailor Dee got his scent all over you!"

As per usual, anything new pertaining to pack dynamics made Meta Knight increasingly uncomfortable, especially when it involved Dedede. Though he wasn't acting violent and aggressive like Meta Knight had feared he would, there were still little things here and there that got to him. The whole scenting thing, for instance. It wasn't much different from their usual cuddling, so he figured he could get used to it, but Dedede being jealous and possessive like this? That wasn't acceptable.

"You can't do this every time I come into contact with someone," he scolded his king.

"Why not?" Dedede asked, barely paying attention as he rubbed his cheek against his knight. "My pack, my scent!"

"I won't accept this possessive behavior and you know it," Meta Knight continued, voice rising against his will. "I'm close with my crew, and will remain close to them whether you like it or not. I refuse to distance myself from them just because you suddenly think you own me!"

He hated himself the moment he said it. Dedede stilled almost immediately once Meta Knight went quiet, slowly letting him go.

Shame welled up within him, and he once again struggled against the urge to teleport out of there. This was not how he wanted this conversation to go, but with the sudden possessiveness and the need to scent and own and all of that pack stuff, it was inevitable. All of this had been making him uncomfortable since he first heard about it, and it finally came out.

Nothing was said for a few moments, though he could hear Dedede sputtering quietly, likely trying to figure out what to say to him. Meta Knight couldn't bring himself to turn and face him. He wasn't supposed to let his own emotions and issues get the better of him like that; wasn't supposed to bother people with his insecurities.

"I don't own you, Meta Knight," Dedede finally said, though he did so almost under his breath. "It's a pack thing, right? You're family. It's only so people know that I care about you."

Sure, that was how people were claiming packs were supposed to go, but it didn't feel like it to him. All of it only screamed that one person owned everyone else and dictated what they did. He didn't want that; not again. The very thought of it not only made him extremely uncomfortable, but admittedly it scared him, too.

"Then shouldn't my closest friend be able to show that he cares about me, too? Or should I cut all ties with him and forget he even exists, all because he's not a part of your pack?" He paused momentarily, realizing something. "I never even agreed to be in your pack in the first place! You just scented me and called it good. What if I would rather be in a pack with my crew? What am I supposed to do? I don't want to be stuck like this. I don't want to feel like I'm being trapped and controlled in some stupid pack from some stupid, immoral ideology!"

Despite his raising hysteria, he still refused to turn and face Dedede. He couldn't stop hating himself for this. This wasn't supposed to happen. He wasn't supposed to bother people like this. Dedede was only doing what came natural to him now, right? It wasn't his fault. It was Meta Knight's fault for not adjusting as well as him. There was no way to reverse any of this anyways, so he _needed_ to adjust, but none of this sat well with him. He wasn't sure it ever would, not after everything he went through with his father.

"I'm sorry," was all Dedede said, voice barely above a whisper.

All the apology did was make Meta Knight feel sick. It had sounded so genuine, and Dedede actually sounded _hurt_. His wings were tensed to the point that it pained him, and he shifted them into his cape so that he could wrap it around himself. This was why he wasn't supposed to bother people like this. His problems were so insignificant, and all they ever did was upset people. If anything, he should have just kept his mouth shut and learned to adjust to everything like a normal person. Why couldn't he ever do anything right?

"I didn't mean to do that to you, Meta Knight. You know I never would. It's just…I'm having a really hard time adjusting to this. I don't know anything about being an alpha, or what I'm supposed to do. Things just keep changing all the time, and I've been doing a buncha weird things, and I don't know what to do about it. I don't want you to feel trapped, though. I don't want to hurt you like that! I don't own you, and I never will. I'm really sorry. I'll try to get better about it, I mean it. I want you to stay with me and be a part of my pack, but I don't want to drive you away either."

It took a moment to take all of it in, but what Dedede said at least helped to calm him down somewhat. Dedede was having problems adjusting. He didn't know what he was doing, and honestly, didn't Dedede have a right to be scared and confused, too? He was the one who was changing so much, having presented as an alpha long before anyone even knew what such a thing entailed. Of course he didn't know what to expect or how to act. This revelation only made Meta Knight feel even worse, as he had no right to go off on Dedede in the first place, but now, realizing his side of things, it seemed even more uncalled for. He wrapped his cape tighter, feeling awful about himself, yet too afraid to say anything in response to Dedede.

"I'll leave you alone if you're really that upset with me," Dedede mumbled, sounding defeated.

"It's not your fault," Meta Knight finally forced out, mostly in panic. He didn't want Dedede blaming himself for the whole stupid incident. "It's just me. I shouldn't have blown up like that. It was uncalled for. If I wasn't so insecure about everything—"

He found himself being wrapped up in a gentle hug, more akin to their usual cuddling, and found himself immediately falling apart. He turned to properly face Dedede in his arms and buried his face in his robes. They sat that way soundlessly for a good few moments, cuddling just the way they always had. No rough holds or forceful scenting. Meta Knight curled up tighter in Dedede's arms, feeling all around useless, yet still finding comfort with his king.

The two somehow managed to doze off despite their issues.


	7. Chapter 7

Meta Knight awoke to an almost suffocating feeling, quickly realizing that he was smooshed between Dedede and the bed. Apparently, they had both passed out and Dedede had rolled on top of him in his sleep. It happened occasionally, though not while Meta Knight still had all of his armor on. Dedede would always get annoyed by it digging into him as he tried to sleep and force him to take it off. Of course, he now had the difficult task of waking his king up and getting him off of him. Then again, Dedede had somehow woken up to Darrin bursting into the room before Meta Knight had, so either that was a fluke, or Dedede was suddenly a light sleeper now.

It did take a while to get him to stir, though not as long as it usually did. It took the pengu a few moments to become coherent enough to realize what was going on, but he eventually managed to roll off of the puffball.

Meta Knight sat up the first chance he had, stretching his aching body. Waking up to Dedede laying on top of him was never fun, and he swore he would ache for the entire day afterwards. As he was stretching his wings (something he didn't necessarily need to do, considering they had been hidden in his cape all night, but still always felt good), he felt a hand run itself down his back between them, and it took all of his willpower to stop himself from jolting.

He turned to give Dedede an annoyed look, but the pengu just gave him a tired, mischievous smile.

"I can feel where your pauldrons were digging into my stomach," Dedede complained, rubbing said spot.

"That's what you get for sleeping on top of me again."

"You're so small, though! And I'm a big guy! I gotta move around in my sleep, so sorry if you get crushed because of it."

"Your logic never ceases to amaze me," Meta Knight muttered. Still, he removed his armor, because admittedly it was a bit too uncomfortable to wear after having been crushed in it for however long they had napped for.

Once his armor was laid out in a pile on the edge of the bed, he scooted back over towards Dedede, who was resting against the headboard once more. He snuggled into his king's side, and Dedede instinctively put a hand down to pet between his wings.

"I'm really sorry about what happened earlier," Dedede began, lightly scooting Meta Knight closer into his side. "I should have known all of this was going to upset you."

"No, it's no problem. I shouldn't have let it get to me like that. You were only doing it because you presented as an alpha. None of us know how pack dynamics work, so I should have realized you weren't doing it on purpose." Meta Knight sighed, still upset with himself. "It's just that all of this has been bothering me since that spell first went off. I know all of it is just to show that you care about and consider me family, but I still feel like I'm being owned and controlled."

"I know I said it already, but I don't want you to feel like that. I just smell everything though, and it always sets me off. Like, I smelled Sailor Dee on you, and all I could think about was how much I wanted my scent on you more. And sometimes there's some people who I just get a whiff of, and I get so _angry_ over it. I've been trying to control it as best I can, but it's so hard. I don't know what to do." A determined look came across his face. "I'll do whatever I need to make you comfortable, though. I don't want you to regret being with me, or feel like you're back with your father again. If that means being in two packs, or not being in my pack at all, then I can live with that."

"The whole idea of packs, alphas, and omegas scares me, honestly. I don't want to feel trapped like that, but I know I was already unconsciously scenting with Sailor Dee earlier. As betas, we can't even smell other people like you can, and yet I hugged him without even thinking and found him rubbing his scent on me. It was like what you did, but less forceful. So, even if I want nothing to do with it, I know I'm going to end up stuck in a pack with either you or my crew. It doesn't take much to see that it's inevitable."

Dedede sighed, scratching lightly at Meta Knight's wings. "I have no idea if forming multiple packs is supposed to be a normal thing. I feel like the head of the pack would get riled up by the other packs' scents, like I was earlier from Sailor Dee. But if what you're saying is true, then it kinda seems like there's no way to avoid it if you have different groups of people you're close to." A thought appeared to come to him, as he lit up. "I mean, what about family and friends? My ma told me that people often formed packs with their family members, like parents and siblings and stuff. But then, they also form packs with their closest friends and people who are like family, so that's already multiple packs right there, right?"

Something akin to immense relief flooded through Meta Knight at that revelation. "You're not just telling me that so I feel better, are you?"

"No! My ma actually told me that! And it makes sense, doesn't it?"

"Yes, it does."

He could feel himself smile ever-so-slightly. Sure, it didn't alleviate most of his worries, but it was at least one less thing to be afraid about. He didn't need to abandon one group for another; he could have both. It was no different than having multiple friend groups. No big deal. Yes, there was still the issue of how everyone would change and react to their new instincts, but he didn't need to worry about that too much, right? Dedede's alpha instincts would take some getting used to, but that was something Dedede needed to get used to as well.

Over time, they would start learning more about how all of this worked, and they would know how to react to everything properly. Dedede already acknowledged something that he needed to work on, and Meta Knight respected that it would be hard for him. He himself needed to work on not letting such things get to him so bad.

There were still all of those minute fears swelling in his thoughts, unfortunately. What if he presented as an alpha? Dedede would be able to help him through it at least, but exactly how well did alphas even get along with each other? Apparently it could work, as both of Dedede's parents had been alphas, but Darrin had mentioned how taboo such a thing supposedly was. Dedede's family had been slaughtered over it. Not to mention, Dedede had made a comment about certain smells upsetting him. Would the scents of different alphas set him off? He didn't want his relationship with Dedede to become even shakier over this.

His smile soon turned into a firm frown. He and Dedede had been perfectly happy before this, and now Meta Knight suddenly found himself afraid that Dedede was going to start acting like Nightmare had towards him. His own insecurities shouldn't have been getting in the way of their relationship like that. Unfortunately, if he _did_ present as alpha (and he definitely wasn't secretly hoping he would; nope, not at all), would they get aggressive with each other? Would they stop getting along so well?

Annoyed, he shook his head of those thoughts. Dedede's parents had been alphas! Their relationship had worked out once they escaped from Iceberg. It was as he had figured before: If they really wanted to stay together, they wouldn't let this get in the way. It might be difficult, as they didn't know what would happen in the future—or how Dedede's alpha instincts would affect him—but they had dealt with worse issues in the past. They could work through it.

Dedede's stomach rumbled, causing Meta Knight to jump. Well, that was what he got for thinking too hard. All Dedede did in response was laugh at himself and give Meta Knight one final pat on the back. He sat up, stretching his arms before standing. Meta Knight followed suit, though he made sure to put at least his mask back on before jumping off the bed. His armor could go back on later when his body didn't ache quite so bad.

"Let's go get some dinner!" Dedede declared, already rushing out of the room.

Meta Knight flew to catch up before landing on his king's back, being more-or-less carried over to the kitchens.

They sat and ate whatever they happened to find in one of Dedede's kitchens, Meta Knight going straight for the giant pack of cookies he found in the pantry. Some waddle dees that worked in the kitchens helped Dedede to cook up a decent dinner, and soon the two were chowing down, Meta Knight's mask sitting off to the side.

Dedede eyed up the whole cooked chicken sitting on the table besides Meta Knight (he really should invest in getting a shorter table. It was probably a bit strange that all of his table guests had to sit on the table just to reach their food), debating on whether or not he wanted to grab it from him or not. All the puffball was doing was shoving cookies and muffins into his face like always, so would he really miss it? Besides, Dedede could take it anyways. He was pack leader _and_ Meta Knight's alpha after all, so who was he to complain? It was Dedede's right to—

He stopped dead in his tracks, a chicken leg halfway to his mouth. Meta Knight must have seen the dread on his face, because he paused in his eating to give him a concerned look. One glance at the puffball was all it took for ice to run through his veins. Those were not thoughts he was supposed to have. Those were the kinds of thoughts that were going to drive Meta Knight _away_. This was exactly what the puffball had been afraid of, and what he himself had been fearful of since having to deal with his rut, and—

"Dedede, breathe," Meta Knight told him, flying over to put the pengu's face in his paws.

Focusing on his knight, Dedede tried to calm himself, slowing his breathing to a more manageable pace. Had he nearly had a panic attack just then? That wasn't something that normally happened to him. Those thoughts he had had, though; those weren't his normal thoughts. Those were the alpha instincts kicking in, and that thought _terrified_ him. He didn't want to act like that, especially after seeing how badly it affected Meta Knight.

"Ah," he nervously smiled, not sure how to proceed. "That was interesting, wasn't it?"

Why he was joking was beyond him. He was still struggling to control his thoughts and breathing after all, wasn't he?

Meta Knight backed off, dropping down to the table to give him a worried look. It always took Dedede off guard to see just how expressive the puffball was when he didn't have his mask on. Of course, it was one of the reasons why he wore it in the first place, but still.

"What was that about?" Meta Knight questioned, though he must not have liked how it came out, because he gave himself a grimace right afterwards.

Considering just what he had been thinking about, and what Meta Knight's slight breakdown earlier had been about, Dedede was reluctant to tell him what had happened. Still, he never liked it when Meta Knight tried to lie to him about his own issues, so he mine as well not be a hypocrite about it.

"It was the whole alpha thing again," he admitted, not looking at Meta Knight. "I was thinking about taking your food, and I just had this thought like it was okay if I did it because I'm an _alpha_ , and I don't know. It scared me. I don't want to think like that, and we _just_ had a fight about this already."

A look of obvious discomfort hit Meta Knight's expression, but he didn't say anything. Dedede contemplated apologizing to him again before the puffball finally said something.

"You're not acting out on those instincts, though. You don't want to do it, so it's okay." It sounded more like he was trying to convince himself rather than Dedede. The puffball took a shaky breath, nervously eating a cookie to stall for time. "I already figured the instincts were going to keep being a problem, but it's not like you actually want to act on them. That panic attack you nearly had was more than enough to prove that. We just need to work through this. It's a weird, uncertain time, and we need to wait it out. I keep telling myself it'll get easier the more we learn about how all of this works."

"Right, right," Dedede agreed. Everything Meta Knight had said made sense. It was mostly what he had been desperately telling himself during the two days he had that rut. "I just gotta deal with it. Everyone else in Dreamland's gonna have to deal with it too, because I'm going to be sure to make a good example out of all those other alphas! I won't tolerate all of that superiority nonsense!" Dedede pounded his fist, determination clear.

"None of that superiority nonsense, says the great, perfect king of Dreamland," Meta Knight deadpanned.

"Oh, shut up!" Dedede shouted, shoving the chicken leg into his mouth in mock annoyance.

Meta Knight merely chuckled, going back to eating all of his sweets. The puffball did eventually get around to eating that chicken Dedede had eyed up plus more, and he couldn't help that small feeling of disappointment that welled up over it. He should have told the waddle dees to make extra food. Bringing puffballs to dinner was always a problem, especially when their king had an appetite that was almost as large as theirs.

Either way, the two finished with dinner, and Dedede found himself out of sweets (a given, considering all Meta Knight ever ate was junk food). Perhaps he'd send Bandana Dee and some others to stock up on more tomorrow.

Jumping down from the table, Meta Knight announced his departure back to the Halberd, and Dedede couldn't help it. Sliding off the chair he had been sitting on, he scooped the puffball back up into his arms, giving a pseudo-goodbye hug. Obviously, he was still scenting him, but Dedede gave his best effort not to be so rough and possessive with it like before.

Once he was done, he continued holding the puffball in his arms, glancing down at him.

"This is okay, right? I'm not upsetting you or anything?"

Meta Knight gave him a slight smile, which raised Dedede's hopes considerably. "It's fine. I'm apparently already a part of your pack, anyways." He hid his face in Dedede's arm before mumbling the next part. "Thank you for being more considerate about it, though."

This time Dedede crushed him in one of his usual enthusiastic hugs, spinning them around excitedly. "It's no problem, my Mety Knight! I'd do anything for my favoritest pet knight!"

All he heard was a muttered "Oh god," from the puffball, which only caused him to bark out a laugh. After thoroughly embarrassing Meta Knight as per usual, he set him back down and gave him a proper goodbye.

After returning said goodbye, Meta Knight put back on his mask and grabbed his armor from Dedede's room before leaving. Dedede was then left to his own thoughts once more. He really didn't know what the future held, nor what else to expect from his new alpha instincts. There was this horribly desperate part of him that wanted everything to work out; for nothing else to go wrong. If he accidentally drove Meta Knight away because of his stupid instincts, he didn't know what he'd do. It would be entirely his fault, too. He was the one who invited some random person he knew nothing about to his planet. Despite everything, he just _had_ to let himself get lulled into learning more about his parents and Iceberg.

Dedede knew that he had made a lot of stupid decisions in his life, but this was by far the worst one he had ever made. Every person on the planet was affected by it, changing in both physiology and behavior, and no one knew how to deal with it, yet. He hadn't even considered how badly Meta Knight would be taking all of it, which only made him feel worse. With everything he knew about Meta Knight's past with Nightmare, he should have known better. Despite that, he let his own stupid instincts get the best of him, and drove the puffball into a near-breakdown. It hadn't even taken that much to set him off, which said a lot about just how much all of this had been getting to him.

Worry and guilt racing through his thoughts, Dedede decided to at least try and get some work done. It wasn't like he had been able to do anything during those two days he was in his rut. While he knew himself well enough to tell that no work was going to get done while his thoughts were like this, he still tried to trick himself into thinking it would help distract him.

With that, he returned to the throne room, determined to get his mind off of everything that had occurred the past few days.


	8. Chapter 8

It had been a couple weeks since that incident, and the people of Popstar were slowly learning more about pack dynamics. Meta Knight in particular was doing his best to learn everything he possibly could about it. As more and more people were presenting as alphas and omegas, the more he was able to learn. For instance, alpha ruts on average appeared to last two to three days, though not enough time had passed for him to figure out how frequently they occurred. The same could be said for omega heats. Heats appeared to last from five to seven days for the average omega, and were usually much more extreme than a rut. Considering everything he was seeing involving omegas, he could honestly say he felt bad for all of them.

Alpha ruts tended to increase their sense of smell, though it might also only be them being unused to having such a good sense of smell. Certain smells would either enrage them into a fight (often from other alphas or dominant betas), while other smells would bring out their need to mark and own (such as omega scents). Alphas were much more aggressive during their ruts, while omegas were quite a bit more sensitive. Apparently, omegas became overly needy and almost entirely unable to take care of themselves during their heats. It was unfair, but there was nothing they could do about it, as much as Meta Knight hated it.

Another issue that bothered him still involved alpha superiority. It didn't take long before alphas started to find out that they could command other betas and omegas and almost always be obeyed. Betas weren't affected by it as bad unless they were in the alpha's pack, but omegas almost always obeyed the very moment a command was given. If the thought of alphas "owning" members of their pack scared him, then this bit of information was downright terrifying. Alphas could essentially control omegas with this, couldn't they? How was that allowed? Why was that normal?

Sure, Meta Knight was a beta, but people were still presenting, even after two weeks had already passed. There was seemingly no way to tell if someone was going to present as anything besides a beta, and there was a very real possibility that he might end up either an alpha or omega. The former wasn't such a bad option, as he had guiltily been wanting to present as an alpha ever since Dedede had, but what if he ended up an omega? He didn't know if he'd be able to handle that.

Overall, there had been some notable instances of chaos breaking out over everything; people being too confused over everything, others rebelling over how alphas were acting. Some people were not reacting to being an alpha the same way as Dedede had been. While Dedede actively fought the idea that alphas were somehow "superior" and above everyone else, many others certainly didn't. The king of Dreamland had been doing a good job at keeping his alpha citizens in line, but there was still the occasional issue. Meta Knight wondered how everything would play out overtime, or how it was playing out even in other kingdoms on Popstar.

There were some notes he was still going over and refining in Darrin's tome, trying to get everything straightened out. Currently, he sat in the radar room of the Halberd, Mace Knight and Sailor Dee with him. The three had been trying to fix some kinks in the hardware, as the radar hadn't been functioning properly for a few days now, but the issue was mostly taken care of. They were taking a quick break, Meta Knight on the floor going over the tome, Mace Knight and Sailor Dee chatting away about their plans for the next few hours.

Meta Knight was quickly beginning to worry that Sailor might be getting sick, as he had been complaining about how hot it was that day, though both his captain and Mace Knight had been fine. The waddle dee in question was wiping sweat from his brow, which caught Meta Knight's eye. Glancing up from his book, he debated running to get his friend some cold medicine.

"Are you guys sure there isn't a radiator broken somewhere? It's way too hot in here," Sailor complained, leaning against Mace Knight.

"You're complaining about being hot, yet you're trying to cuddle with me. You've got some strange priorities there, buddy," Mace Knight joked, patting Sailor on the back.

The waddle dee merely giggled, hugging his fellow crewmate.

"You're still in full armor. How are you not dying?" Sailor questioned him.

"Well, it's not hot?" Mace Knight answered, slightly confused. "You're sweating like crazy, though. Go sit in the kitchen's freezer or something!"

"No way!"

The two laughed at each other for a bit, cuddling and joking around. Meta Knight was still concerned over Sailor though, so he stood and approached them.

"Sailor, are you feeling alright? Besides being too warm?" he questioned, taking a gauntlet off so that he could feel the waddle dee's forehead.

"I guess I'm a bit tired, but I didn't really sleep that well last night," he replied, leaning into Meta Knight's touch.

"You're burning up. You might have a fever," Meta Knight informed him, removing his paw. Sailor looked disappointed over the loss, but further cuddled into Mace Knight's side.

Mace Knight perked up at that. "Hey now, don't you go getting me sick, too!"

"I think you're fine," Sailor mumbled.

Meta Knight hummed, not quite convinced. "Still, I think you should go get some rest. I can grab you some cold medicine to help you out. Hopefully it doesn't get much worse."

"Are you sure? There's still more work that needs to get done."

"Mace and I can handle it. Just go get some rest. I'll grab you an ice pack while I'm getting the cold medicine. It should help cool you down."

Sailor eventually agreed, though he remained cuddled against Mace Knight's side.

"Hey, do I need to walk you to your room, princess?" Mace joked.

"Uh, no, that's fine!" Sailor Dee sputtered out, having realized what he was doing.

The waddle dee stood up from his seat, though Mace Knight sat up with him. Despite his protests, Meta Knight was certain Mace Knight was actually going to walk Sailor to his room. He parted ways from the other two, running down to their kitchen area to find some cold medicine and an ice pack for the waddle dee. If he could cool down his fever, then hopefully his friend would be fine.

Upon making it to Sailor's room, Meta Knight noticed something a bit strange. Mace Knight was standing off to the side of the room, turning to give his captain a hopeless look. Over between the bed and the wall, Sailor Dee was arranging a large pile of blankets and pillows on the floor. Normally this wouldn't be all that strange, as both Meta Knight and Kirby slept in makeshift nests of blankets and pillows (he always figured it must be a puffball thing), but Sailor Dee never did anything like this, let alone any other waddle dee Meta Knight had ever seen.

After a good few minutes, Sailor appeared to be satisfied with the arrangement he had made and settled in it comfortably. A couple more seconds passed before he realized he still had an audience. Meta Knight and Mace Knight both gave confused glances at each other, noticing the sudden confusion on Sailor's face shortly afterwards.

"I'm not really sure why I did this," Sailor admitted, looking baffled.

"Well, if you're comfortable, I guess," Mace Knight told him, equally as baffled. "Maybe you just want to be more like your best friend over here!" he teased, pointing a thumb in Meta Knight's direction.

"I'm not moving," Sailor announced. "This is really comfy!" To further demonstrate this, he cuddled himself deeper into the blankets.

Meta Knight found this behavior fully suspicious, though he didn't want to upset Sailor by saying anything about it. He approached the waddle dee with the cold medicine and ice pack.

"Here, take these, at least," he offered.

Sailor took the medicine and swallowed it, grabbing the ice pack shortly afterwards and laying it against his forehead. His hat had been thrown off to the side haphazardly, and Meta Knight had to resist the urge to pick it up and set it somewhere more proper.

Mace and Meta Knight left to let Sailor Dee rest, though Meta Knight couldn't stop thinking about what he had seen. It was just _strange_. Sailor had never done anything like that before, at least not that he knew of.

Only a day passed before it became obvious that Sailor Dee had presented as an omega. Meta Knight had suspected as much after the waddle dee's strange behavior the day before, though it was much worse now. Mace Knight had been confined to Sailor's room along with him, the waddle dee not wanting to be alone. A few times during the day, Meta Knight had shown up with some food for the two, finding Mace Knight in the waddle dee's nest being cuddled to death.

Sailor hadn't yet reached the point where he couldn't take care of himself anymore, though the neediness was definitely there. Meta Knight hadn't seen an actual omega in heat before, nor had he even seen an omega in the first place, so it was an interesting predicament. On one hand, he could now gather more accurate information about omegas firsthand, but on the other, he was afraid for Sailor. From what little he had managed to learn about it, being an omega did _not_ sound like a pleasant experience. Why would anyone want to be controlled? Why would they want to be _forced_ by their own body to be taken care of? It was scary just how little other people on Popstar were beginning to feel about omegas, too. Dedede himself had mentioned a few times how he would occasionally have a thought akin to "well, it's only an _omega_ , so I can take advantage of them, right?" and how alarmed he'd been afterwards about it.

Wings tense, Meta Knight grabbed some more food from the kitchen and began heading towards Sailor Dee's room. There was no way he'd let anyone take advantage of Sailor, or make him feel like he was being controlled or considered useless. He was still just like any other waddle dee, and shouldn't be treated any differently just because he was an omega.

As he approached the room, he swore he almost got a whiff of something extremely sweet, though he lost it immediately. Omegas' scents must be particularly strong during their heats if even a beta could catch it. Either way, he entered the room, finding Sailor Dee hopelessly rubbing himself against Mace Knight. The knight looked concerned, but not sure what to do about it, as Sailor appeared to be doing it unconsciously.

The two got Sailor to calm down somewhat and made sure he ate his food. As they finished their food, Mace Knight thanked Meta Knight for helping them out. Stopping to consider it momentarily, Meta Knight asked Mace if he wanted him to watch over Sailor for a while.

It took some convincing, but considering how tired Mace Knight was at the moment, he eventually caved. It was getting pretty late after all, though neither of them wanted to leave Sailor alone. Both had heard of how needy omegas got during their heats, and they didn't want Sailor to become upset over being isolated in his room. Mace Knight had taken it upon himself to keep the waddle dee company— unsurprising, considering their relationship—but Meta Knight felt obligated to help as well. It wasn't just because Sailor was his best friend, as he wanted to be there for every member of his crew. By taking over for Mace Knight, he was helping out Sailor Dee and making sure his fellow knight got a decent night's rest.

After Mace Knight collected his discarded armor and left to sleep, Meta Knight removed his own armor and climbed in beside Sailor. The waddle dee was remarkably warm, yet he was still buried firmly in his blankets and pillows. Sailor attached himself to Meta Knight the moment he settled in, snuggling and scenting him. At some points, Sailor would sniff at him and mention how nice and sweet he smelled. That was likely enough to prove that omegas had the same heightened sense of smell as alphas, though Meta Knight wasn't sure if omega reactions would be the same as alphas'.

Tucking that bit of information away for later, Meta Knight pulled out a book from his dimensional cape and opened it up. Some time was spent with Meta Knight reading while the waddle dee desperately snuggled with him. Admittedly, he was beginning to understand why Mace Knight appeared so uncomfortable every time Meta Knight had come to check on them that day.

While he had expected clinginess from the waddle dee, the excessive scenting and overly needy actions were far exceeding Meta Knight's personal space and preferences. It took Sailor Dee far too long to fall asleep that night, and Meta Knight could only thank the gods that he no longer had an overheated waddle dee rubbing himself against him nonstop. Falling asleep himself was quite difficult, as Sailor was holding onto him with a death grip, and the heat radiating from his body was enough to make Meta Knight even more uncomfortable.

He awoke the next morning to Sailor seemingly _pleading_ with him, and he swore he could already feel a headache coming on. This was far too much attention being put on him. Sailor's pleas went on, the waddle dee clutching to Meta Knight and roughly scenting him. Asking what Sailor wanted proved ineffective, as he appeared to be in a state of near incoherency. This must have been what all of his informants meant when they said omega heats were much more extreme than alpha ruts.

At some point, Mace Knight eventually entered the room with breakfast for the three of them. Seeing the state of Sailor Dee and how distraught his captain was becoming over it, Mace hurriedly ran over to take Meta Knight's place. Once freed from the waddle dee's death grip, Meta Knight dashed away from the makeshift nest. Mace Knight appeared to be stuck between wanting to laugh at him and continuing to be concerned about it all. The knight's expression remained neutral as he pulled the food he brought closer to himself and Sailor Dee.

Reaching over, Meta Knight grabbed his mask and armor to replace them, noticing Mace Knight doing the opposite with his own armor. Eyeing up the food beside the knight and waddle dee, Meta Knight tentatively grabbed some for himself. Of course, he knew he'd need to run down to the kitchen and grab more soon afterwards. There was no way his puffball appetite was going to be sated by the amount of food that Mace Knight brought.

Sailor's heat had finally progressed to the point where he seemingly couldn't take care of himself anymore, and Mace Knight had to coerce him into eating something. With the waddle dee's continued pleas for _something_ , Mace gave Meta Knight a hopeless look, being just as lost as Meta Knight was on the issue. After thanking Meta Knight for watching over Sailor Dee for the night, Mace Knight relieved him and told him that he could handle things from there on out. Nodding at Mace, Meta Knight promised him that he'd try to figure out more about omega heats, and see if perhaps he was forgetting something from his notes.

On his way to his own room to get Darrin's tome, Meta Knight passed by Axe Knight, who seemed on edge. Well, that was odd.

"Axe," Meta Knight greeted, stopping before his second-in-command. "Is something wrong?"

Initially, Axe Knight didn't react, though he finally snapped to attention once Meta Knight put a paw to his shoulder.

"Huh?" he blurted out in a slight daze. "O-Oh, Sir Meta Knight! I apologize! What did you need?"

Meta Knight gave him a concerned look, which he knew would be hidden by his mask. "I was asking if something was wrong. Did something happen?"

"No, nothing happened," Axe Knight replied, though he appeared unsure of himself. "I'm just a bit out of it, I guess."

As he spoke, Axe Knight kept glancing down the hall where Meta Knight had come from. Feeling a trace amount of fear trickle in, Meta Knight could only consider the worst possible explanation.

"Are you feeling a bit warm? Or perhaps nauseous, in any way?"

There was no immediate response, as Axe Knight had zoned out once more, though he soon came back to attention.

"Ah, I'm sorry, Sir. I can't seem to focus very well," he mumbled, embarrassed.

"Take off your helmet and mask," Meta Knight instructed, removing one of his gauntlets. He swore, if Axe Knight was burning up like Sailor Dee was…

"No."

Both paused at Axe Knight's response. Behind his crewmember's skull-like mask, Meta Knight could see Axe's eyes widen in horror. Too astounded at being told _no_ by one of his crewmembers, Meta Knight had no idea what to do. Axe Knight clearly hadn't meant to say it either, if his reaction was anything to go by.

"I-I'm sorry," Axe Knight sputtered. "I have no idea what came over me just then."

"Axe, hey, don't worry about it," Meta Knight assured him, putting his paw back on Axe Knight's shoulder. "I just wanted to make sure you weren't running a fever like Sailor Dee."

"I'm not an omega like him," Axe ground out, mild anger showing through his nervousness.

"Could I still check?"

Axe Knight clenched his fists, reluctant to remove his mask and helmet for whatever reason, but he eventually relented. Once his face was exposed, Meta Knight put a paw to Axe's forehead, only to find he wasn't warm in the slightest. He was about to say as much to his crewmember, but stopped once he realized what Axe was doing.

Light snuffles were heard before Meta Knight noticed Axe Knight sniffing at him. With their close proximity, it was difficult not to notice. Apparently, the opposite of what Meta Knight assumed to be occurring was actually going on. Axe Knight must have been presenting as an alpha. It only made sense, as while the knight was acting strange, he wasn't being needy or felt overly warm. Instead, he was reluctant to follow orders and was seemingly on edge over scents alone.

"Is it Sailor? Can you smell him?" Meta Knight questioned before he could allow himself to think too hard about the sudden predicament.

In response, Axe Knight leaned further into Meta Knight and took a good, hard whiff of him.

"Mm, you reek of him," Axe Knight mumbled, nuzzling Meta Knight's mask aside.

"Axe Knight, you need to stop," Meta Knight commanded, trying to push him aside without hurting him.

Unfortunately, Meta Knight wasn't the strongest when it came to physical strength, and his attempts were ineffective. After the night he had had with Sailor Dee, he didn't think he could handle being scented by a rutting alpha. It was hard enough to keep the implications of Axe Knight being an alpha out of his mind in the first place, and the sudden insecurity of being _owned_ and looked down upon was not helping issues.

"This is a command from your captain and superior commander. Back off now, Axe Knight," Meta Knight spat out, trying to keep his emotions in check. He didn't usually pull rank on his men, but Axe Knight needed to get himself under control before he did something he'd regret later.

As expected, Axe Knight paid no mind to Meta Knight's orders (and that fact alone was enough to make Meta Knight feel like he'd been punched in the gut), and instead started scenting his captain much more vigorously. Yes, Meta Knight could break away from him if he wanted, but he wasn't about to use force on one of his own men and possibly hurt him. That wasn't how he ran things.

"You can't just order me around like I'm some stupid omega," Axe Knight practically growled, and Meta Knight was admittedly beginning to feel sick.

Just as he was about to cave and try to break free, Axe Knight paused, remaining eerily still with his cheek against Meta Knight's.

The alpha's growling only grew, and he gave Meta Knight an almost infuriated look. "What's with this other alpha smell?" he muttered darkly. "You're supposed to smell like Sailor and yourself. You're only supposed to smell like _us_ , so who's the alpha?"

That feeling of sickness turned into pure terror the moment Axe Knight said those words. He had discussed this and had an argument about it with Dedede, but he hadn't expected one of his own _crewmembers_ to get possessive like this. Trying to quell his panic, he turned his thoughts to something more rational.

 _Dedede was aggressive during his rut, too. You heard all about what happened before he locked himself up in his room. He was fine afterwards, though. This is just the rut speaking. Axe Knight would never do something like this. Never. He would never disrespect me like this, or treat me like he owns me, or—_

" _Who the hell is it?_ " Axe Knight shouted in his face, and Meta Knight didn't know if he should get angry and fight back, or go along with it like a beta should. His beta instincts and personal insecurities were warring against self-preservation and defending himself like he normally would.

Deciding to suck it up and fight against his stupid beta instincts, Meta Knight pushed back against Axe Knight, throwing him the darkest look he could muster up.

"It's _Dedede_. You know, my boyfriend and your _king_? I'm telling you to back off _now_ , because I won't hesitate to fight back if you keep this up. You don't own me, and neither does Dedede. Get your act together before you end up getting kicked off the crew."

Axe Knight did not take this answer well, growling viciously and ripping off one of Meta Knight's pauldrons. His other grip was still tight on his captain's lopsided mask, which easily came off once Meta Knight jumped away from the rutting alpha. Pulling out Galaxia, Meta Knight took a battle stance, hoping that Axe Knight wouldn't end up getting hurt due to all of this. Still, he remembered being told how many fights Dedede picked during the first day of his rut, and expected no different from Axe Knight.

Throwing his captain's mask aside, Axe Knight threw back on his own mask and helmet, turning to consider Meta Knight. It was then that Meta Knight noticed that Axe Knight didn't have his usual axe on him, which explained why the alpha hadn't readily attacked him.

Feeling a bit more hopeful, Meta Knight tried to reason with him once more.

"Axe Knight, you're going to regret everything you're doing now once your rut is over. I suggest you try to lay low and wait it out. Take a rest in your room, or find a secluded place outside the Halberd if Sailor Dee's scent is too much for you. There's no reason to be picking any fights over this."

Axe Knight didn't say anything; didn't even react. He merely stormed off after a few tense moments, in the opposite direction of Sailor Dee's room. Distracting Axe Knight from his captain (because apparently, Meta Knight still smelled like Dedede after all of Sailor Dee's scenting the night before), and of course the omega in heat was important. Meta Knight couldn't imagine Axe Knight picking a fight with Javelin or Trident Knight for any reason, unless they smelled bad to him. He had learned over the course of two weeks that it was usually the dominant betas and soon-to-be alphas who had such triggering smells to rutting alphas. (So, if Meta Knight had a nice, sweet smell as Sailor claimed, was he a submissive beta then? He quickly dismissed the thought and tried to pretend he never had it).

Mace Knight and Sailor Dee might have some issues, though. It was rapidly becoming common knowledge that alphas reacted strongly to omegas in general. An omega in heat, though, was when it became an issue. If Mace Knight tried to keep Axe Knight away from Sailor Dee, then Meta Knight knew a fight was going to break out. Thankfully, Axe Knight appeared to have heeded Meta Knight's words and left. Sailor and Mace were fine for the moment, but needed to be warned regardless. Axe Knight's rut was bound to last either another day or two, and who knew what would happen during that time. He might not lock himself up and try to keep himself under control like Dedede did.

Grabbing his mask, gauntlet, and pauldron, he put them back on and proceeded to head back to Sailor Dee's room. As he approached, he could hear faint shouting and crying. Concern flooded through him over what could have possibly happened while he was gone.

Upon entering, he caught a strong whiff of Sailor's scent again, absently wondering how strong it must be for Axe Knight. Shutting the door behind him, he took notice of Mace Knight trying in vain to calm down the hysterical waddle dee.

"Uh, Meta Knight! Sir!" Mace Knight stumbled, noticing his captain's entrance. "I don't know how to help Sailor calm down. He said something about a smell and just broke down."

Meta Knight felt a pang for both of them, knowing how hard it must be dealing with a heat. Despite finding himself thoroughly drained from his encounter with Axe Knight and his previous time with Sailor Dee, he removed his armor and dumped it off to the side. Crawling into the nest with Sailor and Mace, he joined in on hugging the distraught waddle dee. Though Sailor was clinging onto Mace Knight for dear life, he still eagerly leaned in to Meta Knight's hold. His hysterics calmed down ever so slightly as Meta Knight hummed some calming words at him, but his shaking and tears remained.

Once the two managed to get Sailor Dee to doze off somewhat, Meta Knight turned his attention to Mace Knight.

"Axe Knight went into a rut," was all he said.

Mace Knight's eyes widened considerably in shock. "You mean, just now?"

"Yes. I suspect that's what set Sailor Dee off. Since Sailor's heat is making his scent so strong, I suspect the same is happening with Axe Knight."

Nervousness flashed across Mace Knight's features at that. "How is Axe? Is he like his majesty was?" His hold on Sailor Dee tensed. "He won't come here for Sailor Dee, will he?"

"I hope not," Meta Knight uttered, glancing at the bedroom door. "I think I convinced him to lay low and try to get himself back under control. He became aggravated when he smelled Dedede on me, but I got him to back off. I'll try to keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't do anything he'll regret after all of this is over. If Javelin and Trident Knight's scents don't bother him, I'll try and see if they can help out, too."

There was no mention of Axe Knight's blatant disobedience and lack of respect towards his captain. Meta Knight knew what being in a rut did to alphas, and held no ill will towards his crewmember. It would be better for him if no one knew about what happened. He already knew Axe Knight would be hating himself for what he had done enough already; there was no reason to add to that by letting everyone else know what happened.

Finally getting Sailor Dee to fall asleep, Meta Knight got up to put his armor and mask back on. Telling Mace Knight to let him know if anything else happened, he left to find his other crewmembers.

It would be best to avoid Axe Knight, as his attitude was likely still quite volatile, not to mention he had no idea where the knight had stormed off to. Javelin and Trident Knight should have been fixing some of the computers in the security room, though. That was where he headed first, making sure they knew about their crew member's predicament and to help keep an eye on him.

Overall, it ended up being a long, stressful day. Javelin Knight appeared to have no identifying scent whatsoever, thanks to his being an android (not something that would have any pack instincts). Trident Knight, unfortunately, had a scent that drove Axe Knight completely up a wall. Everyone quickly agreed that only Meta Knight and Javelin Knight would deal with their wayward alpha.

The whole day was spent running between Axe Knight and Sailor Dee, the former of which needed to be kept in line, and the latter needing to be taken constant care of. It didn't take long for both he and Mace Knight to find out that Meta Knight was shockingly good at calming the waddle dee down and making him feel comfortable. Whenever it was just Sailor and Mace Knight, the waddle dee would try in vain to get him to do _something_ to help him out, yet no amount of cuddling and nice words sated him.

Meta Knight felt like a complete idiot once he went over his notes in Darrin's tome and remembered one very important thing. Heats and ruts were meant for producing offspring. That was why alphas and omegas reacted so strongly to each other during those times. Being that Mace Knight was in a relationship with Sailor Dee, there was no doubt in Meta Knight's mind of what Sailor Dee kept trying to get Mace to do. Once he had informed the other knight of this, Mace's face had reddened considerably in embarrassment. Meta Knight's visits to Sailor's room after that were noticeably more awkward.

Whatever ended up happening in the next three to five days of Sailor's heat, Meta Knight figured it would be best to let Mace Knight decide what he wanted to do. It was a difficult situation, as he knew Mace Knight would never want to take advantage of Sailor Dee like that, yet Sailor often made it seem like it was absolutely what he needed. Mace and Meta Knight discussed the issue with each other as Meta Knight relieved his crewmember to sleep for the night, and neither knew what the best approach to the situation was. All they could agree on was that none of it seemed right.

As Sailor Dee dozed off against Meta Knight, he could only sit and contemplate the past three days' events. Axe Knight was an alpha. There wasn't much shock to Sailor Dee being an omega, but he hadn't expected Axe Knight to present as an alpha. Honestly, he hadn't expected _anyone_ in his crew to be an alpha. While he had spent so much time debating whether or not he would be comfortable presenting as one himself, the thought of what would happen if the others presented never even crossed his mind.

The only reason he wanted to present as an alpha was because they were the leaders in their pack society. Everyone respected them and listened to them. They were the strong protectors that everyone was supposed to look up to. Wasn't that all Meta Knight had ever wanted? To be looked up to and respected? What did it mean now, with his second-in-command as an alpha? Axe Knight was supposed to be the leader then, right? It only made sense.

Fear and nervousness fluttered through his emotions. It was a selfish thought, he accepted that, but he didn't _want_ Axe Knight to take over for him. How would anyone ever take him seriously after that? No one ever took well to a superior being _demoted_ , and Meta Knight got enough heckling from Masher and his group as it was. His reputation would fall apart from this, and his crew would never see him the same, and—

He buried his face into Sailor Dee's hold, trying to compose himself. Those were all ridiculous thoughts, and he knew it. No one would see him differently just because Axe Knight was an alpha and he wasn't. Darrin had mentioned that there were betas being the heads of packs despite alpha presence in his family, hadn't he? Sure, it was considered taboo and helped lead to the family's slaughter, but it still feasibly happened. If his crew truly respected and cared for him like he thought they did, they wouldn't treat him any differently because of this.

It was the same thing with Sailor Dee. Here the waddle dee was in the middle of an intense heat, and Meta Knight thought no differently of him. He knew Mace Knight felt the same way. What mattered was taking care of him and making sure he was comfortable. If anyone showed any sign of treating Sailor any differently over this, Meta Knight would be sure to remind them that he was the same waddle dee he had always been, and treating him like he was beneath them was not going to be tolerated.

That said, why should the same go for Axe Knight? He couldn't even imagine his second-in-command ever trying to take over his position as captain. Axe Knight was by far the most strict and respectful of his crew, and his reaction to telling Meta Knight "no" before his rut truly hit was enough to prove that. He had looked _horrified_ over disobeying an order, as insignificant as it had been. There was no reason for anyone to treat anyone differently over any of this, and Meta Knight shouldn't be letting himself worry so much over it. They would all be fine.

Despite his attempts to dissuade his insecurities, they kept coming back to him. It took far too long for him to fall asleep, and he wished morning would never come.


	9. Chapter 9

Axe Knight's rut had lasted about three days. After the first day, he had tried to keep himself confined to his room, though he admitted to Javelin Knight that the scent of Sailor Dee's rut was too much for him to handle. He had left the Halberd entirely the next morning, and no one had seen him until he returned after the end of his rut the next day. When asked about how he was feeling, he mentioned that Sailor Dee's rut was still affecting him, though not quite as badly as it had before.

Both Axe Knight and Meta Knight tiptoed around each other for a good portion of the day, nervous about addressing their issues. Eventually though, Meta Knight knew it would be better to confront him and set everything straight.

They sat in the control room together, Axe Knight staring warily at Meta Knight. Neither knew how to begin the conversation. Meta Knight debated trying simple small talk to start out, but Axe Knight thankfully said something instead.

"Sir, I'm so sorry about what I did; what I said to you. Alpha or not, I had no right to act like that towards you. I—I mean, you were right. I hate how I behaved that day. You have every right to punish me as you see fit."

To say that Meta Knight felt relieved over this was an understatement, and he too hated himself for feeling that way.

"It's not your fault, Axe. I understand that you couldn't control yourself. I just wanted to make sure that no one got hurt, and that you didn't do anything you'd regret afterwards. I care about your wellbeing just as much as I do anyone else on this ship, and I'm not going to lash out just because you acted on instincts that were completely out of your control."

Axe Knight appeared to breathe out a sigh of relief, closing his eyes and relaxing his tense posture.

"I'm not going to treat Sailor Dee any different over being an omega, and I'm not going to treat you any different just because you're an alpha. I need you to understand this."

Axe Knight grimaced, looking angry for a moment before shaking his head. "I understand, Sir. I won't let my instincts get in the way of being a good second-in-command."

"Dedede is struggling with this, too. He's promised himself to work on it, though. You've heard his speeches and announcements. You know how he feels about all of this alpha business." He paused, convincing himself to relax. "Look, what I'm trying to say is, it's okay if you have a hard time getting used to this. I don't think anyone who's presented has adjusted well. If you make mistakes, that's understandable."

"Right, right," Axe Knight conceded, eyes boring straight into Meta Knight's. The intense eye contact only made him more uncomfortable, but he neglected to mention it. "Again, I apologize for what I did. It won't happen again; I'll make sure of that."

"Yes, about that," Meta Knight interrupted. "I wanted you and I to go have a talk with Dedede. There's something I'd like to discuss with him, and I feel it would be best if you were there."

Something akin to fear and annoyance flashed across Axe Knight's features, but it was gone as soon as it came.

"Yes, Sir. When shall we leave?"

"I suspect we should leave closer to the evening. I'd like to help take care of Sailor Dee some more and make sure both he and Mace Knight eat something before I leave. Dedede shouldn't be as busy during that time, either. Until then, I suggest you take it easy and try not to let everything get to you. If you want something to do, you can always help out Javelin and Trident Knight in the security room. Is that fine?"

"Yes, that's more than fine, Sir," Axe Knight responded, nodding his head. "Thank you for all of this. I feared the worst after I came back to my senses. I felt horrible after what I did."

"I already told you, none of it was your fault. Don't let it get to you so much. If you need someone to talk to, I'm sure Dedede will be more than willing to listen when we visit him. I imagine there's a lot he could say to help you adjust to being an alpha."

Axe Knight nodded, still thanking him profusely. Though Meta Knight was about to turn and leave, he noticed reluctance in Axe Knight's eyes. It was as though he wanted to say something, but couldn't bring himself to.

"Is there something else you wanted?" he asked, wondering what the issue was.

Jumping minutely, Axe Knight looked taken aback.

"Ah, no, it's just— It's nothing. It's stupid, and I shouldn't be…" he trailed off.

A small amount of dread hit Meta Knight, his mind immediately wondering if Axe Knight was going to demand he be made the Halberd's new captain.

"I want to, I guess, scent you," Axe Knight glanced down at the ground, finally breaking his intense eye contact. "But I know you're in his majesty's pack. It would be wrong to take you from him."

At that, Meta Knight narrowed his gaze. "I told you already that neither you nor Dedede own me. I am a member of his pack, but only to show that I am close with him. If I am to form a pack with you guys, it would be to show that I am close with you as well." Since Axe Knight didn't say anything in response, Meta Knight continued. "Dedede and I already talked about it, and having multiple packs seems as though it would be acceptable. People form packs with their family, and they also form packs with those who they consider family. If you'd like to scent me and have our crew form a pack, I wouldn't object to it. Sailor Dee has already done more than enough scenting on me these past few days, anyways."

With that, Axe Knight's expression brightened, and he approached his captain. "Are you sure?" he asked, nervousness lacing his voice.

"I request that you refrain from acting controlling or possessive over me. I won't tolerate that. You should respect the rest of the crew's wishes as well when it comes to this."

Axe Knight removed his mask and helmet, revealing just how much he was beaming over Meta Knight's response. Without anything else being said, Meta Knight found himself wrapped in Axe Knight's hug, his second-in-command rubbing his cheek against his and scenting him. Based off all of the constant interactions and scenting between Meta Knight, Dedede, and Bandana Dee over the past two weeks, Meta Knight suspected that this was now going to become a reoccurring thing between him and his crew as well. Particularly once Sailor Dee finally finished with his heat.

Once Axe Knight felt he had properly scented his captain, the two left their separate ways, Meta Knight to help take care of Sailor Dee, and Axe Knight to aid with the computers in the security room. As evening approached, they met back up and left for Castle Dedede, putting Trident Knight in charge while they were gone.

Dedede was surprised to see the two top members of the Halberd crew visit him, not that he complained at all. Without a second thought, he had scooped Meta Knight up in a hug and began scenting him as he always did. This time though, he paused, sniffing at the puffball intently. Meta Knight knew what the issue was; he didn't even need to see the suspicious look his king was giving Axe Knight.

"Oh," was all Dedede muttered, grip tightening on Meta Knight. "I think I can guess why you're both here."

"Dedede, we talked about this," Meta Knight responded lowly, hoping to avoid a confrontation between the two alphas.

"Yeah, yeah, I know! I wasn't expecting any of your crew to be an alpha, though! When did this happen? And also," he continued on before Meta Knight could even explain himself, "you reek like an omega! It's not even your own scent. Who the heck presented on your ship?"

"It's Sailor Dee," Meta Knight answered, loudly enough so that Bandana Dee could hear from his position back by the king's throne. "He's been in heat for the past five days."

This caught the waddle dee's attention, and he stepped forward to join the conversation. "Wait, why didn't anyone tell me about this? Is he doing okay?"

It hadn't even occurred to him to tell Bandana Dee about his brother before this. Resisting the urge to bury his face in Dedede's arm in shame, he tried to explain himself.

"Bandana, I'm sorry. I didn't even think about it. The past few days have been stressful on the whole crew. Sailor and Axe didn't take well to presenting at the same time. Sailor's been doing better since Axe's rut ended, but it still never occurred to me to tell you. I apologize."

Bandana Dee didn't look particularly happy over this, but he still jumped up to join in on the pack's scenting. "It's fine, I guess. I'm just upset no one told me sooner." He rubbed his cheek against Meta Knight's. "Is it okay if I go see him? Is he fine with that, or do you think he wants to be left alone?"

"I think your brother would appreciate it if you visited him. I should warn you though, being in heat has really taken a toll on him. He can't take care of himself at the moment, and needs a lot of attention. Don't be alarmed by it when you see him."

Bandana's concern only grew upon hearing that, which only made Meta Knight feel worse about the whole thing. As the three finished their pack bonding, Bandana Dee jumped down from Dedede's arms, announcing his departure to the Halberd. He was going to help take care of his brother no matter what anyone told him. No one wanted to stop him in the first place, so he was free to leave.

As Meta Knight was finally set down, he realized just how uncomfortable Axe Knight looked. It must have been awkward, having to watch one of your pack members be scented by a different alpha from a different pack. To try and compensate, he reached over and nuzzled himself against Axe Knight, who eagerly reciprocated. Dedede didn't look happy about this at all, but what was Meta Knight supposed to do? Apparently being a member of two different packs was going to be much more difficult than he anticipated. He figured the thought of there being an alpha in his crew had never even crossed Dedede's mind when they made their agreement on the multiple packs issue.

"We should probably talk," Meta Knight tried not to mumble, still being nuzzled by Axe Knight.

Figuring they'd end up in the usual place for private discussions, Meta Knight found himself surprised when Dedede didn't bring them to his bedroom. Then again, he was not nearly as familiar with Axe Knight as he was Meta Knight, Bandana Dee, and Sailor. Axe Knight was merely a knight who worked under his king, not a close friend. It would of course be improper to bring Axe Knight to his king's quarters to discuss what Dedede likely assumed was normal business.

They found themselves instead in the meeting room, Dedede slouching at the head of the table. Meta Knight sat beside him, Axe Knight choosing to sit by his captain rather than across from him. Noticing the suspicious look Dedede gave this action, Meta Knight held in an annoyed sigh. How did people respect alphas so much if they acted like jealous children over a single beta? All of it was completely unnecessary. He couldn't even imagine how much worse they would have acted had Sailor Dee been in Dedede's pack as well. If a beta was all it took for this behavior, an omega had to be a hundred times worse.

Figuring he needed to break the alphas' idiotic tension, Meta Knight explained his purpose for bringing Axe Knight over, which Dedede appeared mildly irritated over. The pengu didn't reject his knight's request though, offering to help explain what he could to Axe Knight about alpha instincts and living with them. Realizing his presence was doing nothing to aid the two, Meta Knight excused himself from the meeting room, hoping they might get over themselves if it was just the two of them. He made a mental note to have a firm discussion with Dedede again after this, needing to reclarify that yes, he was going to be in a pack with another alpha, and yes, the whole possessive thing still made him extremely uncomfortable. Axe Knight would probably need the discussion as well, unfortunately.


	10. Chapter 10

Dedede bid Axe Knight farewell, sending him back off to the Halberd. And good riddance. Being around other alphas had proven to be difficult at best, their scents usually amping up his competitive side significantly. Not that many people had presented yet though, and normally it wasn't enough to bother him, but Axe Knight's scent drove him up a wall. Sure, Dedede had agreed that people having multiple packs was more than likely normal, but he hadn't expected this. Why had _Axe Knight_ of all people presented as an alpha? Out of the entire Halberd crew, he would have thought for sure Meta Knight would have been the one to present as one. Instead, his second-in-command had, and Meta Knight's own scent was all over him. More than anything, this sent his competitive drive completely into overdrive.

This distressed him, because he _knew_ Meta Knight didn't like that, but it was so hard to keep it under control with another alpha suddenly in the picture. Thankfully his competitive drive had died down ever-so-slightly with Meta Knight's departure, and he had been able to talk with Axe Knight in a fairly civil manner. The knight's concerns were nothing he hadn't already dealt with. Raging instincts, sudden anger and impulses, the need to claim. It was a bit much when you weren't used to it, and even Dedede, who had been an alpha for two weeks now, still struggled to get his instincts under control.

Between certain unfair alpha instincts and how horribly they clashed with Meta Knight's insecurities, Dedede was shocked nothing horrible had happened between them after their one argument in the beginning. He could only hope the same could be said of Axe Knight and Meta Knight, though Dedede knew how deathly loyal Axe Knight was to his captain, and how he'd never intentionally do something to hurt or distress him. That whole crew spent more time fussing over their captain and making sure he felt safe and happy than anything else.

Certain things like that really made Dedede wonder how that particular pack would work out, especially since they officially had an omega to pamper instead. Either way, Dedede was honestly afraid for how anyone else he knew would present. What if Meta Knight did end up an alpha? He'd heard nothing of multiple alphas being in packs, so he didn't know how all of that worked. His parents were both alphas, so he figured a relationship like that would work. Of course, he also realized that betas were so much more common than alphas and omegas, and there was a good chance he'd remain a beta. Considering how insecure and uncomfortable Meta Knight had been with everything going on, Dedede wondered if there'd be any more arguments and consoling between them in the future. If he and Axe Knight couldn't get their competitive instincts under control, he more than expected such a thing to happen.

There had to be some way to help him overcome that. While he knew Meta Knight still had his insecurities and likely always would, he knew the puffball had been getting so much better about it in recent times. Just how many steps had he taken back due to all of this? Contemplating how to help Meta Knight out, Dedede wondered if maybe Kirby would be of any assistance. It hadn't been until Kirby first showed up in Dreamland that Meta Knight had truly begun to recover from his issues.

Speaking of which, Dedede just realized that Kirby was still banned from the castle. Oh. And Kirby was supposedly a part of his pack, if the way he, Bandana, and Meta Knight spoke about said pack was anything to go by. That _might_ need to remedied sometime soon.

The next day went by, and all Dedede knew was that there was an overjoyed pink puffball bouncing off the walls of his castle. More than anything, Dedede was surprised that Kirby had restrained himself from storming the place during the past two weeks. The little pink menace smelled an awful lot like various other betas, who Dedede figured were probably all of his different animal friends. That group was definitely already a pack, and Kirby didn't appear adverse in the slightest to being in a pack with Dedede, Bandana, and Meta Knight ("After all, you guys are my bestest friends ever!").

Apparently, none of Kirby's other friends had presented at all, and the thought of Dedede being an alpha both intrigued and excited him. Needless to say, the puffball jumped all over the opportunity to be scented by his new pack leader.

Speaking of which, Dedede vaguely wondered how all of that pack leader stuff worked with Kirby's and Meta Knight's other packs. Who was the head of Kirby's pack if they were all betas? A dominant beta, perhaps? It was always difficult to tell with betas, since there were never really any obvious differences between the two, aside from scents. Even then, he decided not even that was a surefire way to tell. Meta Knight had that typical sweet scent associated with submissive betas, but that didn't really fit with his attitude and personality, did it? Besides, who was the head of his pack over on the Halberd? Would it be Axe Knight, or would it be his captain? Dedede knew if Axe Knight ended up being head of the pack, Meta Knight would be struggling with his insecurities even worse than he had been recently.

Feeling someone else jump into his arms, Dedede snapped back to attention. Bandana Dee had shown up to join in on solidifying his pack status with Kirby. The three sat and cuddled enthusiastically near the king's throne, Dedede only regretting that Meta Knight wasn't there to join in. It'd be nice to get the entire pack together for once, now that he actually remembered to allow Kirby over. Maybe he'd order his knight over for dinner or something. Who knew when he'd come over of his of volition. It was always so damn random and sporadic.

Naturally, an order to come over and eat dinner quickly turned into a party between close friends, and Meta Knight somehow found himself with his fellow puffball glued to his side. Understandable, considering by that time Kirby had more than scented enough with Dedede and Bandana Dee.

A ridiculous amount of food sat before the group, the puffballs and Dedede digging in eagerly, Bandana following at a slower pace. As fun as it was having the whole group over, Dedede was secretly dreading restocking the kitchens afterwards. Considering he was a big eater himself, allowing the two puffballs to go at it was more than enough to run his stock near dry. Thankfully, Meta Knight stuck almost exclusively to junk food and anything sugary, but Kirby wasn't so picky. That was one puffball who truly ate everything.

Still, the evening went on, Kirby asking about how things were going with alphas and omegas running around. Meta Knight and Bandana Dee mentioned Sailor presenting, though the other waddle dee had yet to end his heat. Mace Knight had been doing an amazing job at taking care of Bandana's twin brother, and didn't appear to show any signs of waning his efforts. Unfortunately, they couldn't say much more about omegas until Sailor was back to his usual self. Kirby learned _more_ than enough about alphas though, thanks to all of Dedede's confident boasting.

"I gotta tell ya, Kirbs, it's been pretty great being at the top. I'm not just perfect, I'm like a god in the peoples' eyes, now. Havin' their king as an alpha is truly a gift!" he bragged, more than proud of his status.

"Don't let him fool you, he's exactly the same as always," Bandana stage-whispered to Kirby, causing them both to giggle.

Dedede gave a huff in mock offence, and was about to go on before noticing how wary Meta Knight appeared. The mask had come off in order to eat, and his expressions were always way too easy to read. Deciding against saying anything about it, Dedede went off on a different topic.

"So, how's things with your other pack, huh?" he asked, directed at Kirby. "Anyone present yet? Who's the head of the pack?"

"No one's done anything! We're all betas, I think!" Kirby chirped, followed by shoving a whole roast in his mouth and eating it. "I don't think anyone's really the leader, either. Maybe we don't need one!"

"Huh, sure. Just wait until some of you start presentin'. You'll probably find your pack leader _real_ fast after that." Dedede gave a quick glance at Meta Knight, still wondering how the whole pack leader situation was with his crew, but was too afraid to ask. His knight appeared nervous enough as it was talking about all of this.

"I don't know," Bandana supplied. "Not everyone wants to have someone running their friend group, you know. I realize it's a pack thing, but still. It seems unrealistic that everyone's gonna have a person to lead their pack. We only ended up with one because, you know, you're _you_."

Dedede's grumbled " _What's that supposed to mean?"_ was easily drowned out by Kirby's excited " _Yeah! Dedede's the best leader!"_ Considering it was praise for him, Dedede took it and didn't bother to complain.

"Still, I feel a group of only betas is the only time where someone might not step up as pack leader. And how likely is it that they're all even going to stay betas? Someone's bound to present eventually."

"Yeah, I guess," Bandana pondered. "People have been presenting left and right lately! I mean, we have Sailor and Axe," he went on, gesturing towards Meta Knight, "and I know Masher and Bonkers both presented as alphas not too long ago, and a bunch of the waddle dees have been presenting as omegas. I keep thinking it must be some common waddle dee thing; I've only seen maybe two or three alpha waddle dees."

"Masher presented as an alpha?" Meta Knight finally spoke up, getting Dedede's attention once more.

"Yeah! It wasn't too long after Dedede did, I think," Bandana responded.

At that, Meta Knight remained silent, wings tense. Considering his shaky history with the other swordsman, Dedede could wager a guess as to why this was bothering him. As the puffball continued to slowly finish off the massive sundae he'd somehow managed to put together, Dedede could feel his own nervousness welling up. After everything, he didn't need Meta Knight worrying himself over this. If the damn guy would just stop overthinking everything all of the time, their life would be so much less stressful.

Letting loose a gruff sigh, Dedede tried to ignore it. This was supposed to be a fun time, after all! No mopey puffballs were going to get in the way of that. The night continued on, Dedede, Bandana, and Kirby all goofing off with each other while Meta Knight remained silent in the background. Kirby was eventually able to get him to come around, as he declared that he was going to make a far better ice cream sundae than Meta Knight ever could. This was enough to get the quiet puffball out of his stupor, and both Dedede and Bandana could only watch in awe as the two proceeded to construct the largest, most complex sundaes they had ever seen.

Kirby ended up winning their little competition, though Meta Knight claimed it didn't count since the ice cream supply had run out, leaving Kirby with the bigger sundae. Besides his claims, he didn't put up much protest against his fellow puffball's victory, and took more satisfaction in eating the concoctions they had actually made. A little full, but unable to resist having a sundae himself, Dedede made sure to steal as many scoops as possible from Meta Knight's sundae. It was boyfriend privilege, obviously.

The rest of the night went in a similar fashion, Meta Knight loosening up as it got darker out. Eventually, the four found themselves cuddling together in Dedede's bed, their pack status more than solidified by that point. Kirby was reveling in the attention, soaking up as many cuddles as physically possible. It was clear that if anyone was enjoying all of the new pack dynamics, it was the pink puffball. While Meta Knight viewed the whole thing as controlling and immoral, Kirby appeared to think of it more as a way to become even closer to his friends than he already was.

Thinking about it some more, perhaps Kirby really could help Meta Knight to better adjust to pack dynamics. Their thought processes were so completely opposite from each other that it was ridiculous, but Meta Knight always appeared open to Kirby's ideas, as simple and naïve as they often were. It wouldn't hurt to try and get them to talk more about the issue together. At the rate he was going, Meta Knight was bound to send himself into a full-blown breakdown in no time. That was for sure something Dedede wanted to avoid at all costs, so if Kirby could help in any way, then Dedede was going to make sure he got on that as soon as possible.

In the meantime, he supposed it was late, and the other three were already asleep cuddled against his side. Instead of being like Meta Knight and worrying too damn much, perhaps he should focus on getting some more sleep.

So off he went, falling into a deep sleep alongside his now completed pack.


	11. Chapter 11

About a month had passed since Kirby, Dedede, Meta Knight, and Bandana Dee had completely solidified their pack status. Meta Knight had to admit, it was going a lot better than he had hoped it would. As time had gone on, Dedede had been able to get the worst of his instincts under control, and his inherent need to compete against Axe Knight had died down ever so slightly.

Axe Knight himself had been getting the hang of his instincts, becoming a decent pack leader. Things on the Halberd had been awkward for a while after he had assumed the position as head of the pack, but the crew had been able to work through it. Meta Knight in particular had struggled with this, but understood that pack status did not affect his position as the Halberd's captain and Dedede's top knight. Axe Knight dictated pack issues ("I want to cuddle with Sailor, today! Stop letting those weird alphas try to scent you, Javelin! You don't even have pack instincts!"), while Meta Knight was in command of all of their actual work-related issues ("Axe, stop complaining and go help Mace in the radar room!").

As strange as it was, the Halberd crew was getting along just fine with their setup. It was the best for both Axe Knight and Meta Knight anyways, as Meta Knight would always be viewed by the crew as their captain, and Axe Knight's alpha instincts were better off if he was at least head of their pack. It also helped Meta Knight considerably with his insecurities and fears about alphas and pack dynamics. After all, Axe Knight was their alpha and pack leader, but everyone still looked up to and respected Meta Knight as their captain and superior. No one was treating anyone differently, which worked wonders at calming all of his worries.

There had been some issues, of course. After learning that Masher had presented as an alpha, Meta Knight _knew_ he was going to start receiving more grief from his fellow swordsman. Masher was an alpha and the head of _his_ pack, so why wasn't Meta Knight? He couldn't let it get to him though, as Masher had always been looking for reasons to give him a hard time and demean him. The larger knight had never taken kindly to King Dedede's obvious favoritism of the puffball, and had held it against him for as long as he could remember.

Meta Knight's own actions when the Halberd had first been built hadn't necessarily helped Masher's dislike of him. Despite being the loyal, chivalrous knight he claimed to be, Meta Knight had gone and tried to overthrow Dedede. It had been for Dreamland's own good, as Dedede had been corrupt to a fault back then, but he had gone about the issue in the worst possible way. After he and his crew had been exiled from Dreamland, Masher and his group had obviously ascended to be Dedede's top group.

After all of that nonsense with Dark Matter, and after Meta Knight had been rescued from the Dimensional Mirror, Dedede had caved and forced him and his crew back out of exile. Not only did he demand Meta Knight return to Dreamland, he had also given him back his position of top knight and head of Dedede's forces. Naturally, Masher had _not_ taken this well, and he had every right to disagree with the decision. Meta Knight himself felt that he had done nothing to warrant forgiveness from Dedede, and had questioned Dedede's decision to give him back his positions so easily. Had he been Masher, he would have felt both cheated and wronged by this.

Unfortunately, at the time Meta Knight hadn't even considered Masher and his crew when he had been allowed back. He had had so much more to worry about and focus on during that time, and it hadn't been until sometime after the Halberd was fished out of Orange Ocean that he finally realized the issue. Masher had of course finally blown up at him, and Meta Knight's own aloof attitude hadn't helped things in the slightest. Their relationship had gone from strained to downright hostile after that, though they both tried their best to ignore each other. Masher and his crew weren't above petty heckling and mocking, unfortunately. Practically anything Meta Knight and his crew did was picked apart and stomped on by the other group, and his kidnapping during the Haltmann invasion had only succeeded in making the problem worse.

Thankfully, he hadn't seen either Masher or the members of his group since Darrin's spell had first gone off, and he figured it was for the better. It had been long enough that the entire castle knew of Axe Knight presenting and becoming the head of the Halberd crew's pack, and he could only imagine what Masher had to say about that.

Had he not known Dedede as well as he did, he would have worried that Masher might try to talk his way into taking over Meta Knight's position and succeed. He had more than enough reason to, based on pack dynamics alone. He was an alpha; Meta Knight was a beta. Alphas were supposed to be the leaders. Though this might have been something Meta Knight would normally worry about, he already had enough assurance of his position from both Dedede and Axe Knight. Dedede obviously did not want alpha superiority to become a commonplace idea, and actively fought to dissuade such a thing. Meanwhile, Axe Knight was an alpha and the head of his pack, but Meta Knight was still the one in charge of their work.

Over the course of a month, Meta Knight had thankfully become much more secure about alphas and omegas being treated no differently than betas. It was strange and different, but for the most part, everything had been working out as well as it possibly could.

Javelin Knight had eventually been able to come into contact with Planet Iceberg and had been directed to Darrin's tribe. The head of the tribe had confirmed Darrin's story, but explained that as far as he knew, Darrin had not returned to Iceberg since departing for Dreamland. This naturally concerned both Dedede and Meta Knight. Darrin had apparently been telling the truth about Dedede's parents and past, but why hadn't he returned to Iceberg? Where was he now, and why had he disappeared after casting his spell?

Meta Knight had discussed in length with the head of Darrin's tribe about Darrin's spell, and his suspicions had only been confirmed: there was no reversing it. With this being confirmed, Meta Knight figured he had had no choice but to go ahead and reveal that particular bit of information to Dedede. From there, it had spread throughout Dreamland, to the other kingdoms, and eventually all across Popstar. Everyone was stuck with their pack dynamics for good.

There was a good amount of outrage over this reveal, though the kings and queens of each kingdom did their absolute best to quell their citizens' anger. When asked about the location of the wizard who had caused all of this, Dedede merely informed them that he had never returned to Iceberg, and that they currently had no way of locating him. As per Meta Knight's advice, he had mentioned that they were still working diligently on trying to find him despite this, but that the citizens needed to remain patient.

Having heard about the anger and concern of Popstar's residents, Meta Knight figured it would be best to head out and see what was going on himself. After being cooped up in the Halberd and Castle Dedede for so long, his idea of Dreamland's state was likely skewed, and he wanted to fix that.

That was how he found himself running around with Kirby and some of his pack for the day. The pink puffball had been more than eager to go wandering around Dreamland with Meta Knight, and naturally many of his friends had wanted to come along. The two found themselves accompanied by Rick, Nago, Adeleine, and Gooey. Kine very obviously couldn't travel around in the same manner as the rest of his friends, and Chuchu had decided to accompany him for the day. Coo had wanted to help teach Pitch some new flying tricks, so they had opted out on adventuring for the day.

Meta Knight was a bit thankful for this, as he never really was comfortable around large groups of people he wasn't familiar with. He had hung out with both Gooey and Adeleine a little in the past, finding that he got along with the two fairly well (being able to relate with Gooey certainly helped), but he had never even spoken with the other animals before, let alone hung out with them. Starting with only Rick and Nago would be enough for one day.

Axe Knight had insisted that either he or someone else from his pack tag along with Meta Knight, though he had politely declined. He figured that there was no need for anyone to watch over him just because he was out and about for once, though Axe Knight seemed unconvinced. Meta Knight had woken up that day feeling a little warm and nauseous after all, though it wasn't enough to stop him from going about his business. Considering how his crew always worried about and fussed over him, he couldn't say he was surprised about this, but that wouldn't stop him from thinking it was unnecessary. The only reason he had made it off the Halberd without anyone following after him was thanks to Kirby. If Axe Knight wanted one of Meta Knight's pack members out with him, then having someone from his other pack was sufficient. Axe Knight had begrudgingly agreed to this logic, reluctantly letting his captain go.

It was midday, and the group was currently having lunch over at a café near Onion Ocean. The staff were struggling with keeping two puffballs well-fed along with their four friends, but that was only to be expected. The trips had gone smoothly up to that point, the group having traversed many different towns and regions of Dreamland by warp stars to check on the citizens.

Despite his original worries, the status of everything in Dreamland concurred with everything he had been told whenever he visited Castle Dedede, so there wasn't much to worry about, thankfully. Their excursion had quickly gone from just another job for Meta Knight, to a fun hangout for Kirby and his friends (though arguably, Kirby had considered it this from the very beginning). If the others were having a good time, then that was fine by him.

Meta Knight hadn't completely loosened up around Kirby's friends just yet, and had struggled with trying to act in the same dignified, polite manner he always did around strangers. It was hard when the people he was trying to be dignified with were a bunch of children only out to have a good time. Still, things could have definitely gone worse, and Meta Knight didn't mind listening to the various conversations Kirby and his friends had as they traveled.

After lunch, they had planned to fly over to Cookie Country and Rumble Ruins, but Kirby had started to feel a bit ill. It was unusual to see the pink puffball get sick, but it wasn't impossible for something like that to happen. After having a quick spell of dizziness and nausea, everyone had decided it was time to go home and let him rest. There was no need to worsen his illness by overexerting him, so they grabbed some warp stars and made their ways back to Prism Plains. Adeleine, Gooey, Rick, and Nago promised to bring Kirby home and take care of him, so Meta Knight bid them farewell and flew off towards the Halberd.

Though the trip hadn't ended as pleasantly as it could have, Meta Knight was admittedly a bit thankful for the sudden interruption. He had started to feel a bit too warm for his liking as the day went on, and running over to Rumble Ruins certainly wouldn't have helped that. The fact that both he and Kirby were acting so off was suspicious in and of itself, though he tried to ignore it. He had had an enjoyable day so far, and he didn't want to ruin that with his own typical worries.

Though his original plan after this had been to go to Castle Dedede and discuss some work-related issues with the king, the thought of his crew drove him back to his ship. As much as he was beginning to appreciate how close pack dynamics were bringing he and his crew together, it annoyed him ever-so-slightly how their usual protectiveness over him had only multiplied. It partly had to do with his kidnapping during the Haltmann invasion, as his crew had watched him like a hawk after that incident, but he swore it had been getting better before all of this pack nonsense had begun. This only reminded him of the persistent warmth that had been following him all day, though once again he ignored it.

After announcing his return and subsequent departure to his crew, he flew off towards Castle Dedede. His king had promised him some money to repair the Halberd with, and he fully intended to take it while he had the chance.

Upon landing and entering the castle, Meta Knight fully intended to head to the king's throne room and locate him, but was stopped on the way. A particularly large knight in purple armor stood off to the side, two smaller knights chatting away with him. Meta Knight was always eager to avoid confrontation with Masher and his group, especially now since he had been feeling off all day, but there was no avoiding it once Butch caught sight of him.

"Oi, Masher, look who it is!" the skull-faced knight declared, pointing his boss in the right direction.

His boss in question paused mid-sentence to turn and find the source of interruption, and Meta Knight was certain he could feel the other knight grinning at him from behind his dark helmet.

"Oh, Sir Meta Knight! Long time no see, my friend!" Masher spat out vehemently, sarcasm clear. "Surprised your alpha hasn't had the balls to take over for you, yet. Wouldn't be any different than someone trying to overthrow their king, am I right?"

"Sir Masher," Meta Knight nodded, already annoyed. "I have business to attend to with his majesty. If you wouldn't mind."

"No, no, don't mind me," Masher ground out. "You want to run straight to your boyfriend for protection. Maybe try to sleep your way straight to the throne. I get it." He chuckled darkly. "What's a useless beta even going to do in our ranks anyways? Maybe once you become the king's royal lapdog, the rest of us can finally get some damn recognition over here. I mean, now you're not only in _my_ way and ruining my reputation, but you're preventing your dear old Axe Knight from rising up, too. Isn't it only right that an alpha command his crew? What gives you the right to prevent him from his privileges?"

Meta Knight remained silent through Masher's whole spiel, doing his best not to let his anger and irritation show.

"If you would like a reminder as to _why_ I am Dedede's commanding officer, then perhaps you would like another duel? I am up for a rematch any time."

Masher scoffed, clenching his fist. "Whatever. It wouldn't even be a fair fight—"

"You're telling _that_ to me?"

"—what with your _legendary_ sword. Maybe drop the magic nonsense and fight like an actual knight. What are you going to do when one day you lose that sword and have to fight with your own power?"

"I can't imagine I would ever be separated from Galaxia so easily. And even then, I am confident enough in my swordsmanship that I could survive should I lose her," Meta Knight returned, trying to remain calm. "My status as a magic-user does not lessen my skills with a sword or commanding my crew."

"Yes, says the _beta_."

"Being beta means nothing. My skills remain the same, and yours have not changed just from presenting as an alpha."

"Oh, really?" Masher boasted. "Are you sure about that? You haven't seen me since I presented; you know nothing. I say you grab yourself a normal sword and meet me over in the courtyard. I'll show you—"

"Hey, Mety Knight!"

The shout from the throne room's entrance shut Masher up, causing Meta Knight to grimace in embarrassment at the same time. Of all the times for Dedede to show up…

Meta Knight, Masher, Butch, and Blade all bowed before their king (as well as most of them could), as the pengu bounded before them in excitement. As he stood before them, he took a good whiff of the scents before him, giving Masher an annoyed glance.

"Okay, I can smell ya gettin' all riled up out here. How about you cool it and leave your superior alone for once?" Dedede suggested, irritation showing.

At that, Masher groaned in fury and stormed out of the hall, Butch and Blade following suit. Dedede nodded at himself, immediately scooping up Meta Knight and snuggling him.

"Don't let those guys get to you, Meta. You've been doing so well, lately!" he chided.

"Perhaps I wouldn't be bothered by it if I knew they didn't have a point. You know Masher's always disapproved of you playing favorites with me."

"Honestly, it's been how many years?" Dedede asked, astounded.

"Too many, and you've never bothered to address Masher's problems. Perhaps it's time? We've both avoided it for far too long, and he deserves some sort of answer beyond your relationship with me."

Dedede gave a huff, burying Meta Knight into the crook of his neck. "That doesn't excuse him being so damn awful to you all of the time! And besides, he's had the worst attitude since he presented as an alpha. I _try_ to talk some sense into him; about how he should respect betas and omegas more, but he doesn't get the hint!"

"Yes, about that," Meta Knight muttered, trying in vain to push himself out of Dedede's overbearing hold. "He feels that Axe Knight should take over my position."

A loud groan from Dedede nearly cut him off. "We talked about this last month! Don't go having second thoughts about it now!"

"That won't be an issue, don't worry. I just thought I should mention it."

"Ugh, that's fine, I guess. What'd you come here for, anyways?" He suddenly gave his knight a knowing grin. "You lookin' for some money from your great, generous king?"

Meta Knight suppressed a sigh, confirming Dedede's suspicions. The pengu waddled off through the castle, making his way to his room. Grabbing some files he had on a nightstand, he plopped down onto his bed with Meta Knight in tow.

The two sat comfortably for some time, going over the needed amounts for finishing repairs on the Halberd. They sat quietly, Meta Knight having already removed his mask and armor, the puffball cuddled snuggly into Dedede's side. His king scratched his back between his wings, and despite still feeling so warm, Meta Knight could feel himself drifting off. Unfortunately, Dedede spoke up, tone light.

"You know, it _is_ okay to be a beta, right?"

"Hmm?" Meta Knight hummed in confusion, glancing up at Dedede. "Of course," he mumbled once he became more coherent. "Why do you ask?"

"It's just," Dedede paused, appearing uncertain of himself, "I worry about you, you know? I mean, I know you've been doing fine lately, but I know you like to hide your problems from me. You were so upset by all of this not even a month ago, and I find it hard to believe you've completely gotten over it already. And I know how hard Masher is on you. Sure, you only told me that he said he thought Axe Knight should take over for you, but I know he probably said a lot more than just that." When Meta Knight didn't respond, Dedede continued. "I just want you to know that it doesn't matter if you're a beta. I don't care, Bandana and Kirby don't care, and your crew certainly doesn't care. I've gotten no complaints about you being a beta. We both know betas can hold leadership positions just as good as any alpha."

"Yes, I know, Dedede," Meta Knight uttered, cuddling further into Dedede's side. "You also know that I don't enjoy worrying you. Axe Knight and I have worked out a system that's been going very well so far. I've seen for myself that being a beta in command is no issue. There's merely a stigma against betas taking leadership over alphas; a societal issue. I may have my own issues and insecurities, but as long as I have the support of both my packs, I feel that you should have no need to worry about me."

There was a nod from Dedede, who wrapped his arm firmly around Meta Knight and held him. Meta Knight figured that Dedede wasn't wholly convinced that everything was fine, but he knew that he was getting better about his insecurities. Things would only continue to get better from that point on, he was certain. Of course, there was no way he could ever truly tell how the future would go, and that pessimistic side of him was always there to remind him that things could, and probably would, go wrong eventually.

As their discussion came to a close, the two fell into a light nap, snuggled firmly against one another. It wasn't until Bandana Dee entered the room a few hours later that they woke up, confused as to why the waddle dee had decided to wake them.

Bandana appeared nervous, a small amount of sweat running down his brow. Though Dedede demanded to know what the issue was, the waddle dee could only stutter and stare warily in Dedede's and Meta Knight's direction. Worried for his friend, Meta Knight peeled himself from Dedede's tight hold, flying over to comfort the waddle dee. Bandana eagerly leaned into Meta Knight's touch as he put a reassuring paw to the waddle dee's cheek.

"Just try to calm yourself, Bandana," Meta Knight murmured, petting Bandana's back. "There's no need to panic, okay?"

Vaguely, he wondered when he had become the person to always rush in to calm others down, but shoved the thought away. What mattered was making sure Bandana felt okay.

"Right, right, I'm sorry," Bandana sighed, hugging Meta Knight and rubbing their cheeks together. "It's just, um, it's kind of a shock, I guess. I, uh, I'm not sure what to say," he stumbled his way through, eyes closed. "But I don't really know how happy you guys are going to be about this, so maybe I should just say it. Oh man…"

"Well, mine as well spit it out then. I'd rather be pissed off now than later," Dedede grumbled.

Bandana held on tighter to Meta Knight. "Okay, so some of Kirby's friends showed up a couple minutes ago to talk to you, but I knew you were guys were napping. So, I had them tell me what was up, and apparently Kirby's presenting as an alpha," Bandana sputtered out hurriedly.

The statement didn't register with Meta Knight right away, but it certainly came crashing down at Dedede's indignant cry of " _What?!_ "

Meta Knight immediately left Castle Dedede. There was no suave announcement or excuse over it; he straight up teleported out of there and onto the Halberd. Panic had seized him, rationality thrown out the window. He knew Dedede would be worried over such an action, but he trusted his king to know when his knight needed to be left alone. Except, _because_ Dedede knew him so well, there was no way he was going to let this go. Meta Knight was going to continue panicking over this. He was going to overthink himself into a breakdown, though that was the furthest thought from his mind.

How had Kirby presented as an alpha? He and Meta Knight were complete opposites, and Meta Knight was supposed to be an alpha, wasn't he? He took care of his crew and led them to victory as often as he could. He protected Dreamland and his king, and was a good leader for both his crew and the other knights of Castle Dedede. Right?

Taking care of people though, that was an omega trait, wasn't it? And how often did Meta Knight _actually_ protect anyone? That was Kirby's job; it was always Kirby's job. He protected Dreamland, Popstar, and practically the entire galaxy. Both he and King Dedede were regarded as heroes in the land, while Meta Knight was always thought of as the one that took care of them. Kirby held the respect of not only his friends on Popstar, but people from entirely different galaxies and dimensions altogether without even trying. _Of course_ he made a good alpha.

How hard did Meta Knight try to hold that same amount of respect? How many times had he _failed_ in doing so over the years? He hated himself for it, but he had always been jealous of how easily everything came to Kirby, from his copy abilities down to his own self-confidence and how everyone looked up to him. Meta Knight had so desperately wanted all of that his entire life. Now here they were, Kirby presenting as an alpha; a natural born leader.

It was becoming difficult to breathe, and his wings were so tense that he could feel them straining in pain. He needed to calm down. This was ridiculous. He shouldn't be so jealous of Kirby, but it was hard when it seemed that the only other puffball he knew got _everything_. Meta Knight was a freak. A puffball who could barely even keep a copy ability for more than a few seconds thanks to Nightmare, and his appearance was no better. He tried so damn hard, and got nothing out of it. The only thing that made it even worse was Kirby himself. Kirby was too damn innocent. He only wanted those around him to be happy and safe. Everything he did that made Meta Knight so jealous was unintentional and definitely not his fault. That's why it was always so hard. If he hated himself for having so many insecurities, then being so upset over someone like _Kirby_ only magnified that self-hatred.

He was starting to feel way too warm. The heat was practically sweltering.

"Sir? Are you okay?" That was Trident Knight.

Meta Knight figured he should have teleported to his room, but he hadn't been in the right state of mind as his panic struck. Trying in vain to respond to Trident, he gasped out a quiet sob, keeping his cape wrapped tightly around himself. This was so stupid. He shouldn't be reacting like this over Kirby presenting as an alpha. How completely unnecessary.

Vaguely, he heard Trident Knight telling someone to go get Sailor Dee. Whoever had left to get the waddle dee returned in no time, and Meta Knight found himself being crushed in a death grip. The scent of the omega struck him, and he found himself being calmed ever-so-slightly as Sailor shushed him and scented him. It was enough, as Meta Knight found himself back under some amount of control. He held onto Sailor as the waddle dee continued to soothe him, as Meta Knight had done back when Sailor had been in his heat.

Speaking of which, Meta Knight was still far too warm, and Axe Knight's scent from nearby was making him a little woozy. Sailor's omega scent helped to drown it out, but it still came through. He glanced up past Sailor to see Trident and Javelin Knight standing nearby. Axe Knight was standing warily in the doorway to the control room they all resided in. He could see the fear and nervousness in what was visible through Axe's mask, and could smell the same amount of nervousness coming off of Sailor.

This was bad. This was so bad. He didn't need this. He _really_ didn't need this.

He buried his face back into Sailor Dee as best he could with his mask and armor still on, trying his best not to fall back into another panic attack. At this rate, he was going to end up crying in front of the whole crew.

The reasoning behind his sudden emotional outburst was pretty obvious now that he had begun to calm down, but he knew it was only going to get worse from there on out. He wanted to detach himself from Sailor's hold to preserve what little dignity he had left in front of his crew ( _what_ dignity?), but the urge to hold on and stay with the omega overrode everything else.

"I'm going to go to my room now," he managed to mumble out to Sailor.

"Okay, I'll help you," Sailor replied softly, concern never wavering from his face.

Meta Knight didn't even argue with him, letting himself be guided to his room. He wanted to cry so bad. Maybe once he was alone with Sailor Dee, away from the rest of the crew, but not now.

An omega, huh? This was so messed up.


End file.
